
Class /■ R /.'.-7 
Ronk .J3 



Copightl^". 



COFVRICHT DEPOSIT 






f<^i^P':7i_. 




Interaatioiial ^httatioit ^txm 

EDITED BY 

WILLIAM T. HARRIS, A.M., LL.D. 



Volume XXX, 



INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES. 

12mo, cloth, uniiorm. binding. 



'PHE INTEENATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES was projected for the pur- 
■^ pose of bringing together in orderly arrangement the best writings, new and 
old, upon educational subjects, and presenting a complete course of reading and 
training for teachers generally. It is edited by William T. Harris, LL. D., 
United States Commissioner of Education, who has contributed for the different 
volumes in the way of introduction, analysis, and commentary. 
*'X5 I. Tlie Philosophy of Education. By Johann K. E. Rosbnkranz, Doc- 

KhK tor of Theology and Professor of Philosophy, University of KOnigsberg. 

Translated by Anna C. Brackett. Second edition, revised, with Coia- 
mentary and complete Analysis. $1.50. 
. "^^ 2. A History of Education. By F. V. N, Painter, A.M., Professor of 
Modern Languages and Literature, Roanoke College, Va. $1.50. 

3. The Kise and Early Constitution of Universities. With a Stir. 

VET OF Medieval Education. By S. S. Laurie, LL. D., Prof essor ol 
the Institutes and History of Education, University of Edinburgh. $1.50. 

4. The Ventilation and Warming of School Buildings. By Gilbert 
^" ^; ■ B. Morrison, Teacher of Physics and Chemistry, Kansas City High School, 

I ^ $1.00. 

\\ 5 "b iH 4 5. The Education of Man. By Friedrich Froebel. Translated and an. 
\i .. ,.-. notated by W. N. Hailmann, A. M., Superintendent of Public Schools, 

' ' ■' La Porte, Ind. $1.50. 

D5\,'E)\*h; 6' Elementary Psychology and Education. By Joseph Baldwin, 
A. M., LL. D., author of " The Art of School Management." $1.50. 

7. The Senses and the Will. (Part I of "The Mind of the Child.") 

By W. Preyer, Professor of Physiology in Jena. Translated by H. W, 
Brown, Teacher in the State Normal School at Worcester, Mass. $1.50. 

8. Memory: WTiat it is and How to Improve it. By David Kat, 

F. R. G. S., author of " Education and Educators," etc. $1.50. 

9. The Development of the Intellect. (Part 11 of " The Mind of thh 

Child.") By W. Preyer, Professor of Physiology in Jena. Translated by 
H. W.Brown. $1.50. 
10. How to Study Geography. A Practical Exposition of Methods an^ 
Devices in Teaching Geography which apply the Principles and Plans of 
Ritter and Guyot. By Francis W. Parker, Principal of the Cook County 
(Illinois) Normal School. $1.50. 
.;> iv - 11. Education in the United States : Its History from the Earliest 
. w* Settlements. By Richard G. Boone, A.M., Professor of Pedagogy, 

•* J ^ Indiana University. $1.50. 

5 r ,[, 12. European Schools ; or. What I Saw in the Schools op Germany^ 
/, , France, Austria, and Switzerland. By L. R. Klemm, Ph. D., Principal - 

• "" of the Cincinnati Technical School. Fully illustrated. $2.00. 

13. Practical Hints for the Teachers of Puhlic Schools. By Georgh 
HowLAND, Superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools, $1.00. 
c,-^.'\ 14. Pestalozzi: His Life and Work. By Roger de Guimps. Authorized 
. Q Translation from the second French edition, by J. Russell, B. A. With afi 

-~ Introduction by Rev. R. H. Quick, M. A. $1.50. 

iOSiTss 15. School Supervision. By J. L. Pickard, LL.D. $1.00. 
r'r, - 16. Higher Education of ^Vomen in Europe. By Helene Lange, Berlin. 
" "■ ■' Translated and accompanied by comparative statistics by L.R. Klemm. $1.00. 

17. Essays on Educational Reformers. By Robert Herbert Quick, 
M. A.7Trinity College, Cambridge. Only authorized edition of the work as 
rewritten in 1890. $1.50. 
, _.V 18. A T^t-Book in Psychology. By Johann Friedrich Hebbart. Trans- 
latea>hy^MARGABET K. Smith. $1.00. 
19. Psychology Applied to the Art of Teaching. By Joseph Baldwik, 
A. M., LL.D. $1.50. 



THE INTEBNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES. -~{C(mtir\;md:) 

,^, 20. Bousseau's IHinile ; or, Treatise on Edttcation. Translated and an- 

notated by W. H. Faynb, Ph. D., LL. D. $1.50. 

L%, N"*) ^^* '^^^ Moral Instruction of CliUdren. By Felix Adler. $1,50. 

^'£ 22. English Education in the Elementary and Secondary Schools. 

-4 By Isaac Shabpless, LL. D., President of Haverford College. $1.00. 

i- ej,23. Education from a National Standpoint. By Alfred FourLLfeE. $1.50. 

^^24. Mental Development of the Child. By W. Preter, Professor of 

10- r?-. Physiology in Jena. Translated by H. W. Brown. $1.00. 

Uf K 25. How to Study and Teach History. By B. A. Hinsdale, Ph. D., LL. D., 

'"^^ University of Michigan. $1.50. ^ "' . , . 

Lfl p,26. Symholic Education. A Commentary on Fboebel^s " Mother-Plat." 

^ ^ • ^ 5- By Susan E. Blow. $1 .50. 

Wsi" ^' Systematic Science Teaching. By Edward Gardnter Howe. $1.50. 

f.3i^f^* "^^^ Education of the Greek People. By Thomas Davidson. $1.50. 

_•_ rgg^ The Evolution of the Massachusetts Puhlic-School System. By 

O^v, M'v ^ G. H. Martin, A. M. $1..50. 



) I, j'^ 30. Pedagogics of the Kindergarten. By Feiedrich Feoebel. $1.50. 
rr^T^l. The Mottoes and Commentaries of Friedrich Eroebel's Mother- 
>A.ov. Play. By Susan E. Blow and Henrietta R. Eliot. $1.50. 

-BL / 33. The Songs and Music of Froebel's Mother-Play. By Susan E. 
r5.D^ Blow. $1.50, 

kC 83. The Psychology of Number. By James A. McLellan, A.M., and 
^y John Dewey, Ph. D. $1.50. 

r^/ „ c^84. Teaching the Language- Arts. By B. A. Hinsdale, LL. D. $1,00. 
»(ff flsD. The Intellectual and Moral Development of the Child. Part I. 
»^*'^ i »/. By Gabriel Compayr6. Translated by Mary E. Wilson. $1.50. 
i £.1 86. Herbart's A B C of Sense-Perception, and Introductory Works. 

By William J. Eckoff, Pd. D., Ph. D. $1.50. 
r5\.V\287. Psychologic Foundations of Education. By William T, Harris, 

A.M., LL.D. $1.50. 
i\\% 38. The School System of Ontario. By the Hon. George W. Ross, LL. D., 
\^ Minister of Education for the Province of Ontario. $1.00. 

;^9"C^9- Principles and Practice of Teaching. By James Johonnot. $1.50. 
iwiS ?^- School Management and Methods. By Joseph Baldwin. $1.50. 
IL'2.*41 Froebel's Educational taws for all Teachers. By James L. 
^ Hughes, Inspector of Schools, Toronto, $1.50. 

\.\A^? 42. Bibliography of Education. By Will S. Monroe, A. B. $2.00. 
tx 43. The Study of the Child. By A, E. Taylor, Ph.D. $1.50. 
r?.TS44. Education by Development. By Friedrich Fkobbel. Translated by 
• .74 ' Josephine Jarvis. $1.50. 

»^.lbt> 45. tetters to a Mother. By Susan E, Blow. $1.50. 
[5 — 46. Montaigne's The Education of Children. Translated by L. E. Eec- 
\V - TOR, Ph.D. $1.00. 

w 47. The Secondary School System of Germany. By Frederick E. 
I'ijy Bolton, $1.50. 

U ^w 4B. Advanced Elementary Science. By Edward G. Howe. $1.50. 
^ 49. Dickens as an Educator. By James L. Hughes. $1.50. 
;7I J- 60. Principles of Education Practically Applied. By Jambs IL 
'"^- Greenwood. Revised. $1.00. 



TEE INTEBNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES.—^Cmtinued.) 

05.5: 51. student liife and Customs. By Henry D. Shbldok, Ph.D. $1.20 net. 
'^MJ^t- 52- -^^ Ideal School. By Peeston W. Search. $1.20 net. 

^ r " 53 I^ater Infancy of the Child* By Gabriel CoMPATRfi. Translated by 
i '<ij Mart E. Wilson. Part II of Vol. 35. $1.20 net. 

k\ \Af ' 54. The Educational Foundations of Trade and Industry. By Fabian 

' ' Ware. $1.20 net. 

^ c V ^ Q 55. Genetic Psychology for Teachers. By Charles H. Judd, Ph.D. 
^'^'"'^ $1.20 net. 

'x o, 66. The Evolution of the Blementary Schools of Great Britain. By 
^ 3AUEB C. Gbeenough, A.M., LL.D. $1.20 net. 

OTHER YOLITMES IN PREPARATION, 



D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 



\St ^5 "^ ■ 



INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES 



FRIEDRICH FROEBEL'S 

PEDAGOGICS OF THE 
KINDERGARTEN 



OR, HIS IDEAS CONCERNING THE 
PLAY AND PLAYTHINGS OP THE CHILD 



TRANSLATED BY 

JOSEPHINE JARVIS 



NEW YORK 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

1904 



LB//57 



. Uvo Oopies rfcceiveu 

APR 17 S905 




Copyright, 1895, 
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 



Elkctrottped and Feinted 
at the appleton press, u. s. a. 



EDITOE'S PREFACE. 



The work here offered to the public is a translation 
of fifteen of the essays of Froebel collected by Wichard 
Lange into a yolume entitled Die Padagogik des Kinder- 
gartens, Gedanken Friedrich Froebel's iiber das Spiel und 
die Spielgegenstande des Kindes, Berlin, 1861. The chief 
value of the present volume is to be found in the thor- 
oughgoing discussion of the first five gifts. Froebel 
found an educational value in every phase of the child's 
play, and in every object that engages its attention. His 
keen scent discovered in the roundness of the ball, in 
the facility with which it may be moved on a plane sur- 
face, an educative effect on the dawning intellect of the 
child. It is a symbol of a unity that perpetually asserts 
itself in whatever variety — i. e., in whatever change of 
place, extension, or movement — happens to it. " The 
sphere represents to the child every isola '.ed simple unity 
— the child gets from it a hint of manifoldness as still 
abiding in unity" (p. 105). Whether tlie ball or sphere 
be large or small, every segment of the surface is like 
every other, and undistinguishable from the others by 
shape — "the manifoldness abides in unity." That this 
is akin to the child's consciousness of self is obvious. 
His self remains the same under all circumstances, but 



vi EDITOR'S PREFACE. 

it exists amid a perpetually changing variety of states 
of perfection, feeling, and volition. Thus the ball as a 
symbol aids the child on his way to the attainment of 
adequate self-knowledge. 

On the other hand, the cube, according to Froebel, " is 
representative of each continually developing manifold 
body — the child has a hint in it of the unity which lies 
at the foundation of all variety or differences of shape, 
and of the development of these differences out of that 
unity." Thus while the unity of the sphere swallows up or 
subdues and conceals its variety, the cube accentuates and 
makes manifest its variety. For its corners and edges 
and surfaces are rigid and abiding, as differences from 
one another, and attract our attention away from their 
unity in the whole cube. In the sphere the sides are 
alike, and there are no corners or edges — one part is like 
another ; identity and unity prevail. 

Froebel brings out the principle of contrast, the act 
of distinguishing by the category of opposition (p. 39). 
This is very clearly another step in the consciousness of 
the child's self; for he is self as subject knowing, op- 
posed to himself as object known. The fertility of this 
new thought or idea in the child's mind appears in his 
discriminations of things and events by the contrasts of 
sound and silence, of visible and invisible, of going and 
returning, of abiding and transient, etc. With the ball 
in hand the mother attracts the attention of the infant 
too young to talk. She raises the ball by its string and 
lowers it ; swings it to and fro ; in a circle or in a spiral ; 
jumps it and twirls it ; rolls it on a surface or causes it to 
rebound, etc. 

The child gradually learns the words with which to 
describe these general forms of motion (pp. 43, 44). Then 



EDITOR'S PREFACE. yii 

the child plays or "makes believe" that the ball is a 
dog or cat or some other animal, and a new step in cre- 
ative activity is reached by the exercise of fancy and im- 
agination. 

In the third gift Froebel points out the physical coun- 
terparts of a still higher range of categories. For the 
cube, subdivided into eight smaller cubes, demands the 
use of the categories of whole and parts, of outer and 
inner, general and particular (p. 120), etc. 

Here, too, begins the mathematical or quantitative idea. 
For the eight small cubes are repetitions of the same unit, 
and likewise equal parts of the large cube. Thus multipli- 
cation and division, and the two numerical series, integers, 
and fractions, are learned by the child at the same time 
that he is beginning to use the highly significant cate- 
gory of outer and inner. With play nothing should be 
permitted to exist without relation to something else 
(p. 131). 

Froebel finds all that the child does significant and of 
educational importance. In fact, he is the great pioneer 
and founder of child study as well as of the pedagogic 
theory of intellectual values. Every branch of study has 
its distinctive intellectual value, and the teacher or super- 
intendent should ascertain this by an investigation similar 
to that undertaken in this volume on the first five gifts 
used in the kindergarten. We all acknowledge gratefully 
our debt to Dr. Stanley Hall for the widespread interest 
in the United States created by his labors in the move- 
ment known as Child Study. In this book are collected 
the first great European contributions to the subject. 
They are so subtle and so suggestive that every teacher 
should begin his pedagogical training by reading and 
studying them. 



yiii EDITOR'S PREFACE. 

In the essay on How Lina learned to Eead and Write, 
at the close of the volume, one may see what is expected 
of a child whose self -activity has been properly developed 
in a good kindergarten. The greatest lesson of the school 
is the lesson of self-help. Froebel proposed to have each 
gift or object of study considered in a threefold aspect : 
first, as form of life; second, as form of heauty ; and, 
third, as form of knowledge. In his doctrine of this three- 
fold significance of objects of learning, the mother and 
the teacher will find a safe guide to the education which 
best develops self-help in the child. 

W. T. Haeris. 
Washington. D. C, March, 1895. 



AMEEICAN PKEFACE. 



I HAVE been sorry to give so masculine a preponder- 
ance to the child in this book, but the necessity for this 
mode of expression must be attributed to the peculiarities 
of our language. Many sentences would be unintelligible 
if " it " were always used to designate a child as well as an 
object. I might have used " her " instead of " him," but 
where, then, would have been the masculine supremacy ? 

The music for most of the rhymes contained in this 
book are to be found in Kohler's Bewegung Spiele, which 
I have translated, and hope to see in print. 

Josephine Jaryis. 
CoBDEN, Illinois, July 7, 1893. 



PEEFACE. 



Family considerations, and a lively interest in Fried- 
rich Froebel and his endeavors, determined me long since 
to devote some of my very scanty leisure to the study of 
the literary writings left by Froebel, all of which were 
most willingly placed in my hands for compilation by 
members of the family, and especially by Madame Louise 
Froebel. I aim to do all in my power to give a complete 
representation of the man of whom at this time so much 
is said. For this purpose I have collected his original 
writings, which give authentic particulars of his develop- 
ment and that of his endeavors. Thus has resulted a 
work which separates into two divisions. The first depicts 
Friedrich Froebel in his development as a man and as a 
pedagogue, in general ; the second treats of him as the 
founder of the kindergarten. 

The first would have been ready for sale at this time 
if, firstly, it had not required the most work on my part — 
revisions, appendixes, explanatory notes, and elucidations, 
etc ; and, secondly, if I had not felt obliged to assist the 
newly established Erziehung der Gegenwart, edited by 
Dr. Karl Schmidt, by articles which must be taken from 
the before-mentioned first division. Undoubtedly it would 
now be more correct and more effective for the attainment 
of my object if I sent the first division into the world be- 



xii PREFACE. 

fore the second ; but tlie lack of writings on the subject 
of the kindergarten from FroebePs own pen is as great as 
the desire for them. 

Moreover, literary freebooters continue to permit them- 
selves all kinds of unlawful encroachments on Madame 
Froebel's rights of possession, which nuisance must be 
finally and completely stopped once for all. Therefore I 
send forth the following original articles, although re- 
luctantly — reluctantly, because they should serve first of 
all as sources and sketches for independent works. I 
have thought that a simple publication of Froebel's 
works, on account of its form, would not be advisable 
before its contents had already become the possession of 
many by means of an easier and more pleasing style of 
writing. May experience prove this opinion to be erro- 
neous, and may Froebel's own representations accomplish 
more and have a better result than those of his ex- 
pounders ! 

My aim is to have this second division followed by 
the first, which consists of two volumes, and contains all 
the rest of Froebel's practical works. The latter partially 
requires expositions of my own, which I think of under- 
taking in the future, with the object of increasing the 
spread of the ingenious devices of the Thuringian friend 
of children. 

This gift will certainly be welcome not only to the 
teachers in training schools for kindergartners and chil- 
dren's nurses, but also to all who take an interest in 
Friedrich Froebel's endeavors. 

Dr. Wichard Langb. 
Hamburg, November 10^ 1861, 



CONTEITTS. 



CHAPTER PjLOK 

I.— The Two Views. A New- Year's Meditation . . 1 
II. — Plan of an Institution for fostering the Impulse 

TO Creative Activity 14 

III.— Child-Life. The First Action of the Child. . 23 
IV.— The Ball: The First Plaything op Childhood . 32 
V. — The Seed Corn and the Child. A Comparison . 61 
VI. — The Play and Playing of the Child in Harmony 
WITH his Development and with the Totality of 

THE Relations of his Life 63 

VII.— The Sphere and the Cube : The Second Plaything 

OP THE Child , . 70 

VIII.— First Review of the Play ; or, The Means of fos- 
tering THE Child's Impulse to employ Himself . 104 
IX. — The Third Play of the Child and a Cradle Song . 108 
X. — The Continued Development of the Child, and the 

Self-unfolding Play with the Ball . . . 145 
XI. — The Fourth Play of the Child .... 166 
XII. — Second Review of Plays — A Fragment . . . 196 
XIII. — The Fifth Gift. The Cube divided equally twice 
in each Dimension and with Obliquely Divided 
Component Cubes. Evolution of this Gift from 
the Preceding Gifts, and from the Nature op 
THE Child and his Environment . . . .201 

XIV.— Movement Plays 237 

XV. — How Lina learned to Write and Read , . • 286 



ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS BY THE 
TEANSLATOE. 



I. (F.l) The two views — a New-Year's meditation. Looking backward 
over the old year, man sees what he has done or neglected ; gained or lost ; 
the reasons for failure in attainment; (2) the spirit of his strivings; finds 
new germs of action ; looks forward to the new year with hopes ; ways and 
means for attaining his object; sees the foundation of all to be correct 
comprehension of the nature of the child and a suitable method of training 
him for his all-sided destiny ; man a member of a larger whole — the family, 
the community, the nation, the race ; only as member of a social whole (3) 
can man attain the realization of his destiny ; asks all to unite with him in 
working for all ; " Come, let us live with our children " ; this is the motto 
for the year to come, and will make it indeed a new year ; what awakes in 
us the anticipation is the thought of all men in all times ; (4) every one 
has been a child ; importance of childhood ; on it depends the growth of 
the man ; we live our own best life in caring for the proper nurture of our 
children ; this life of the individual as a part and at the same time as a 
whole is the most important thought ; the sun and planets are part of a 
whole ; the elements — earth, air, water, light, heat — are each separate, and 
yet each depends upon the whole of which each is a part ; the parts of a 
plant likewise; (5) in all Nature the individual tries to realize in itself the 
whole ; man's superiority to plants, animals, etc. ; the desire to " live with 
our children " unites us with man, with the creation, and with the Creator ; 
(6) the deed, the direct result of resolution and effort and the embodiment 
of the uniting thought of living " with our children," is an institution for 
training the human being by fostering his impulse to activity ; an institu- 
tion where each teaches, trains, and educates himself by play and by crea- 
tive activity; foundation of the whole future life of each being laid in 
his infancy ; (7) importance of understanding this infancy ; comparison of 
child to a flower bud ; of man to a tree ; complete development of man de- 
pends on correct understanding of the child ; man as a created being, a 
part and a whole ; (8) man's nature made known by the child's impulse to 
creative activity ; family life connecting father, mother, and child ; man as 
2 



xvi PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

a member of the family ; development of the child's impulse to creative ac- 
tivity conditioned by and connected with family life ; (9) genuine educa- 
tion linked with fostering this impulse ; object of our endeavor ; family love 
shown in this impulse and increased by fostering it ; what is necessary for 
man as a created being ; (10) what is required in order to see, to recognize, 
and to perceive ; life, love, and light — three, yet one ; God reveals himself 
as life, love, and light; (11) the child's nature also shows itself in life, 
love, and light; connection of the child by these three with Nature, 
humanity, and God; man a child of Nature, humanity, and God; (12) 
requirements for man's becoming a completely developed human being ; 
(13) comparison of the institution to a tree. 

II. Plan of an institution for fostering the tendency to creative activity. 
(P. 14) How one must seek to live and act so that his actions may have a 
beneficial and lasting effect ; what he must endeavor to do ; educational 
axiom ; how to treat children so as not to cripple their present and future 
life ; the highest aim of life ; its demand upon all educators ; why those 
inclined to foster the child's impulse to activity fail in so doing ; (18) aim 
of the institution ; its plan ; the spirit and character of the means of em- 
ployment ; means by which adults may train and instruct themselves ; 
what it is hoped to accomplish by the institution ; (22) why the plays, 
etc., begin with the simple ; a whole series of plays and occupations for 
children. 

III. The child's life. (P. 23) The first actions of the child; activity 
and action, the first phenomena of child-life, express that which is within ; 
united with sensation and perception point toward the understanding of 
one's self; the child's desire to do something appears when he is only three 
months old ; (24) ; all education should proceed from and be connected 
with this desire to do ; (25) the helplessness of the young child a sign of 
his superiority to the young animal ; the animal and its instincts ; man 
and the spontaneous activity of his will ; (26) the baby's helplessness the 
opposite of the man's capacity for self-helpfulness; overcoming outward 
hindrances by his force of will and his increased power of action ; (27) the 
poles and the central point of child-life ; self-employment the key to the 
life of man in childhood and youth ; habit proceeds from helplessness, 
will, and the employing of one's self ; each phenomenon in child-life calls 
forth its opposite ; importance of studying the cause and the result of habit 
in child-life is as great as of studying the child's impulse to activity ; the 
child's desire to make himself one with his surroundings (early shown by 
the child) proves the existence and working of his desire to be active and 
busy ; (28) habit and imitation important to observe ; threefold phenom- 
ena in the life of the child^ viz., activity, habit, and imitation — sure in- 
dices for correct training ; aims ; child independence ; physical perfection 
if possible; (29) the child's first gaze; first voluntary employments of the 



ANALYSIS OP CONTENTS BY THE TRANSLATOR, xvii 

child ; first eartUy destiny of the child ; recognition of life ; (30) man 
fitted to fulfill his destiny by senses, organs, bodily strength, material 
means ; his nature a perceptive and uniting spirit that he may compre- 
hend spiritual unity ; importance of early training ; importance of the kind 
of training ; life of man, being a unit, is recognized in the first baby life; 
appeal to parents, etc., for the right development; spiritual activities con- 
tained in the life of the child ; (31) the mother's treatment of the child 
based on the last-mentioned fact ; outermost point and innermost ground 
of all phenomena in the early life of the child is to bring into exercise the 
child's dim anticipations ; therefore must be given an object expressing 
Stability and movability which the child can grasp ; in which it can see its 
own life, and test and exercise such life — the Sphere or Ball. 

IV. (F. 32) The ball ; its importance ; its charm ; the child perceives 
each object in the ball ; perceives himself also as a unity ; the child seeks 
to develop himself and everything in Nature by its opposite ; (35) the ball 
to be considered and used in accordance with the needs of the child and 
the nature of the ball; the child likes to see and grasp things; the hands 
adapted to hold a ball ; clasping it strengthens the muscles, also develops 
the hands and fingers; much depends on right handling and grasping, 
in the actual as well as the figurative sense ; as the child's use of limbs 
and senses increases, the ball shows itself as separate from him ; (36) con- 
sequent exercise by mother or nurse with the ball — pleasing and instruc- 
tive to the child ; showing the ball to be an individual object ; this simple 
activity important for the child; it perceives by it union and separation ; 
the feeling of oneness and individuality important ; (37) necessity to com- 
mence early the development of the child, perceiving and awakening in- 
dividual power and activity : observe progressive development of strength 
by means of a measuring object — the ball ; the dim perceptions which 
first dawn on the child, and are the most important, are the ideas of being, 
having, and becoming; from these the three perceptions of object, space, 
and time develop in the mind of the child ; (38) the new perceptions of 
present, past, and future in respect to time develop from play with the 
ball ; the child's development has its foundation in almost imperceptible 
attainments and perceptions ; repetition increases and clarifies perceptions ; 
when two different and separate perceptions have been received by the 
child, the third and following perceptions proceed from them ; the whole 
attention of the fosterer should be given to this truth early in the life of 
the child ; on what the attainment of the earthly destiny depends ; (39) 
the mother often does the right thing, but not logically ; we wish for a 
whole, consciously and progressively formed ; consciousness develops from 
connection of opposites ; (40) to become conscious of itself the first task in 
the life of the child ; the mother's impulses taking right directions ; connect- 
ing words with actions ; how form this word-accompanying play with the 



xviii PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

child ? (41) we give an indication of it ; observe the first expressions of the 
child's inner life ; (42) no directions of the child's nature should be culti- 
vated at the expense of the others ; the heart and emotions are the starting 
point of human development; (43) description of play with ball hanging 
to a string ; (44) same continued ; the child, having perceived the circling 
movement, sees the spiral ; (45) continuance of the play ; the child to take 
the consequence of his actions ; continuance of play ; (46) effect of play on 
the child ; man appears in the child ; (47) illustration of the above ; goes 
back to the ball ; prominent is the fact that it offers only the fundamental 
form; multifariousness of movement considered; (51) plays should be car- 
ried on with other objects, but the ball remains the explaining and uniting 
principle ; as the child's physical powers increase, the play with the ball 
is extended ; description of play ; teaching to stand— to hold himself in 
equilibrium ; (52) the father's help here comes in developingly ; constantly 
progressive development given by the ball ; (53) first childish plays im- 
portant for growth of the child ; through the ball the child perceives unity ; 
(54) the ball leads to the consideration of the most important phenomena 
and laws of earth-life and the life of Nature ; therefore the ball places man 
in the midst of all ; the ball a connection between mother and child — the 
child and its surroundings — the child and Nature ; (55) the ball and play 
with it lay hold of the whole man as child, in respect to body, mind, and 
soul; (56) also on intellect; the playful employments considered as a 
whole do this still more ; the series of plays belongs to the actual, external, 
and creative life ; another series of plays shows an inner unity ; (57) the 
course of childish employments is pursued uninterruptedly, and leads to 
harmonious training ; by it the parent can decide to which side of the 
cultivation the child inclines; the child should not be cultivated one- 
sidedly; ball cultivates mental training; (58) how the mother's actions, 
feelings, and thoughts affect the child ; also her love, faith, and hope ; the 
child susceptible ; how life is comprehended ; (59) play develops the child's 
capacity for speech ; (60) how the play with the ball strengthens the child. 

V. Observation of the seed-corn ; (p. 61) does the word " child " express 
less ? why we foster a seed-corn; why try to understand it ? is the nature 
of man and humanity less unknown to us ? (62) why not give to the study 
of the child and its needs what we give to the seed-corn ? 

VI. (P. 63) As the child's first nourishment must be in harmony with 
his digestive organs, so must the nourishment of his soul-life be in accord- 
ance with the development of its members, especially with the organs of 
sense ; rest the first demand of the bodily life — movement, of the soul-life ; 
(64) as the mouth takes in the fluid, and in the fluid the solid, so the eye 
perceives motion, especially that of light, and perceives the object by 
means of this motion ; therefore the mother early calls the child's atten- 
tion to what is light ; little children like to look at the sun, etc. ; pleased 



ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS BY THE TRANSLATOR, xix 

with radiate forms ; (65) for this development we give the mother the col- 
ored ball; first impressions of the child; (66) its own activity and mother- 
love ; fostering of mutual life is the union, the fount ; the child must be 
rightly comprehended in all its relations ; by looking back we find how 
careful fostering has developed oui- own lives ; (67) learn from this how 
to base the child's guidance on its true foundation ; all development cor- 
responds; the child perceives life in himself, and outside of himself; so 
with man; the child perceives this in play, the man in Nature ; intellectual 
and spiritual condition changed in the mother after the birth of her child ; 

(68) this condition should be fostered for the sake of the child ; relations of 
mother and child ; the first play observes and fosters this reciprocal life ; 

(69) as the child becomes older it demands a purely opposite body, making 
itself known by noise, sound, and tone ; here the cube is introduced. 

VII. (P. 70) The sphere and cube give more pleasure than the ball 
during the second half of the first year ; the sphere and cube are alike and 
unlike, therefore belong together undivided as a play ; the two in common 
form a unity ; important to notice the relation in which the child's play- 
thing and play appear to the child, to his surroundings, to Nature, and to 
God ; play should be in harmony with the all-life ; (71) we endeavor to satisfy 
this harmony with sphere and cube as before with the ball ; hints for the use 
of sphere and cube ; the free circling movement gives pleasure ; the sound is 
a higher sign of life to the child ; (73) this play develops the hearing and 
speaking capacity of the child ; play with the sphere ; (74) continuation of 
play with the sphere ; important impressions made on the child by seeing 
the sphere in different positions ; important that the child should clearly 
perceive the difference between sphere and cube ; (75) the sphere the 
natural advance step in the series of playthings ; play by mother and child ; 
important that the child should designate correctly, as well as clearly com- 
prehend ; through this the life of the child becomes symmetrical ; (76) the 
cube as the pure opposite of the sphere inducts the child into new ways of 
perception ; play differs — the cube requires a plane on which to stand ; the 
sphere needs only a point ; the cube a surface ; further description impor- 
tant to produce inward harmony between the child and the surrounding 
world by tone and glance ; (77) if this is neglected the child becomes sooner 
conscious of oppositeness and separation than of mutuality and union ; play 
with the cube showing that strength is required to move it ; (78) the child's 
strength should be drawn into this play ; manifoldness of development 
aroused ; (79) continuation of play of dropping the sphere or cube ; plays to 
correspond to the child's needs ; not to be in opposition to his wishes ; plays 
arising from the desire to grasp too many things at the same time ; variety 
if possible by change of hands ; (80) the cube stands on one surface, tottera 
if placed on an edge, unless supported by some other object ; putting these 
facts into words deepens their impression on the child's mind ; (81) connec- 



XX PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

tion of plays on page 80; the child helps his mother; enjoys play mor«; 
reproduces it when older ; the child beats with cube on table ; rhyme for 
this play showing it is well not to injure any object, even one which feels 
no pain ; (82) the cube placed on one corner ; held upright in that posi- 
tion by pressure of finger of the left hand ; turning on its axis by the finger 
of the right hand ; lasting efi'ect of these plays on the child ; (83) the 
child notices what is needed to make the cube stand firmly, to make it 
move easily ; will himself do what is needed ; the child's attention hith- 
erto directed to the actions and positions of the object ; play of hiding and 
showing given with the ball, also used with the cube ; mother hides the 
cube in her hand ; (84) child tries to find it ; mother opens her hand ; effect 
of this play on the child, showing one surface of cube while covering the 
rest ; child tries to open the mothers hand ; (85) mother shows two sur- 
faces, hiding the others ; opens hand ; shows three surfaces ; the numbers in 
the rhymes merely intended for change of sound accompanying change of 
position ; (86) the child receives impression of the form of the cube by means 
of this play ; order of plays given in the book may be dijfferent in the nur- 
sery ; what mothers and nurses should cleaj-ly perceive with regard to these 
plays ; premonition that comes to the child intrusted to them ; the child's 
play makes it easier for him in manhood to get a premonition of the law of 
life ; (87) the previous play with the cube brought to view its space and form 
mostly when at rest ; we now consider its movements ; the simplest is swing- 
ing, first by a surface ; next by an edge ; then by a corner ; (88) the child 
perceives difi'erence between apparent and real shape of cube ; importance 
of repeating perceptions in difi'erent forms ; reason for this importance ; the 
three different positions and axes of the cube; these perceptions confirmed 
by the following plays ; (89) thin stick put through cube in each of its 
three directions ; cube turned on its surface axis by fingers of right hand ; 
new form of cube attracts the child's attention ; the stick put through edges 
of cube which turnes on its edge-axis ; (90) the stick put through corners ; 
the cube turned on this axis ; the cube hanging by a string attached to its 
surface ; twisting, untwisting, and retwisting of string ; (91) play repeated 
with string attached to edge ; then string attached to comer ; the plays 
given, by no means all that are possible ; sphere and cube used separately ; 
(92) used together ; sphere expresses motion; cube rest; the two together 
express the living thing ; the child's liking for round pebbles ; for straight- 
edged objects ; connection suggests the human being ; the child's dim an- 
ticipation of the nature and destiny of man ; cause of child's delight in 
baby-doll ; difference between boy and girl ; between their destinies ; (94) 
Froebel asks parents to consider in this way, early in the child's life, all the 
indications of its inner spiritual nature; objection; objection met; further 
remarks on this subject deferred; return to play with sphere and cube; 
(95) purpose important to the life and development of man; why cube 



ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS BY THE TRANSLATOR, xxi 

should be represented as speaking of itself to the child ; how the mother 
seeks to give the true expression to this visible speech ; what his play, 
his Burroundings, Nature, and the universe may thus become to the 
child ; (96) reason for early beginning of this manner of developing the 
child ; what is essential for nurses to consider with regard to ball, sphere, 
and cube ; why something normal should be given to the child ; man can 
not grasp each thing in all its relations ; reason for this fact ; thorough 
understanding of one thing helps toward the understanding of all things ; 
(97) understanding of sphere and cube fits child to recognize, observe, and 
handle all other things ; a simple normal form (as a means of all-sided de- 
velopment and self-education) greatly lacking ; hints of moral character of 
the sphere and cube, and way to treat other objects ; different positions of a 
book ; speech given to book in the play ; (98) box turned on corner axis ; 
single perceptions of different objects alternate with normal perceptions of 
cube and sphere ; by such play the child comes to the premonition of unity, 
constancy, and conformity to law ; what it is essential for man to perceive at 
a later period of life ; representation of other objects by sphere and cube ; 
(99) diflerent things which cube may represent ; what the child may be led 
to perceive ; what endears object to the child ; (100) inner union of mother 
and child gives their play its true life ; threefold love on the part of the 
mother ; similar feelings of the child ; efi'ect on child of means of play ; degree 
of satisfaction of life, mind, and heart determines character of child's future 
life ; this inner satisfaction should be early confirmed and fostered in the 
child; (101) what depends on this; under what conditions the child will 
attain this satisfaction ; the child feels the trinity of necessity, law, and love ; 
finds them to be the condition of genuine satisfaction ; the youth, possessing 
this treasure, can be safely trusted in the world ; why he can be thus trusted ; 
one of the most essential aims of these plays ; three things to be considered 
in the plays ; (102) eflFect of these and the following plays, from what they 
originated, and for what purpose they were formed ; circumstances under 
which surliness, etc., find a home in the child's nature ; how the child can 
be preserved from them ; (103) illustration of last statement ; first and 
second gifts connect with the child's development of speech. 

VIII. (P. 104) First review of the play, or the means of fostering the 
child's impulse to employ himself. Important to see what has been set 
forth up to this point ; the clear comprehension of unity, the entire compass 
of its variety, plurality, and totality important ; the progressive course of 
the carrying out of the plays ; their inner vital coherence should be shown 
to the child ; a comprehensive view of the wnole in general ; (105) the first 
object used was the ball in contrast with the sphere and cube; the child 
perceives life and exercises faculties ; by the sphere and cube he becomes 
more conscious of his senses and exercises them ; the ball a representative 
and means of perception to the child of a single effect caused by a single 



xxii PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

power ; the sphere the representative of every isolated simple unity ; the 
cube the representative of each continuing, developing, manifold body ; in 
sphere and cube are presented the resemblances between opposites so im- 
portant to his whole human life ; (106) the sphere and cube express the 
animated and active ; child tries to divide or open everything ; the sphere 
and cube the necessary advance ; child's delight in building up, tearing 
down, imiting, separating ; forms of life ; (107) exhibition of results as re- 
gards these plays, and these means of fostering the impulse to activity. 

IX. (P. 108) The third play of the child and a cradle song; children's 
play by no means to be treated as ofiering merely a way for passing the 
time, but rather that by them the child's innermost nature may be satisfied ; 
the fact to be held firm that in the employment and play of the child, 
especially in the first four years, not only the germ but also the core of his 
whole future life is shaped ; therefore, we must recognize individuality, 
selfhood, future personality, as already contained in a germ or vital center ; 
what proceeds from voluntary employment; (109) what we miss in the 
children ; how amend this ; (110) how develop love for parents, respect for 
age; how make them observant and active in thought; (111) perceive how 
the child values the giving spirit, the loving glance ; notice the spiritual in 
the phenomena of the earliest child-life ; (112) child likes to go into the 
open air, welcomes his little cloak ; point out to him surrounding objects ; 
child not satisfied with mere bodily care ; consider this phenomenon in its 
innermost causes ; (113) the respect and love of children are secured to par- 
ents and older persons by what they do for the mental growth of the child ; 
the child does not like to be left alone ; the care for the fostering of the 
innermost begins early ; (114) the inner spiritual perceptions of the child 
are often far in advance of their outward manifestation ; it is possible to 
accustom the child early to purity of heart as well as cleanliness of body ; 
(115) feeling himself a whole, and also a single member of a higher life 
unity, will cause to germinate in the life of the child love and gratitude 
toward his parents, respect and veneration for age. This is the aim of 
these plays ; the spirit from which they proceed is the spirit of unity of all 
life; (116) with the first of these plays the adult seems outwardly more 
employed than the child ; object of the play to make the spirit free first ; the 
child comes to the free use of his senses sooner than to that of his limbs ; 
(117) physical employment will follow spiritual in due time ; sole object in 
the fostering of childhood is innermost union with all that is called life ; 
the two former play-gifts contribute to this ; this third play-gift does so 
stUl more variedly ; try to find what attracts the child ; (118) the child 
tries to alter the form, discover new properties, etc. ; after comprehending 
the outside, he likes to investigate its inside ; to see the parts after seeing 
the whole ; then to create the whole ; for this is given to him the divided 
cube ; (119) cube divided into eight eq^ual cubes ; a whole and a part thus 



ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS BY THE TRANSLATOR, xxiii 

distinguished as a fact ; parts show the same form as the whole ; size is 
distinguished from form ; the child learns position and arrangement ; dis- 
tinguishes outer and inner; (120) this first divisible plaything fitted to 
develop the child ; appears to him as the key to the outer world ; this im- 
portant to development ; by the use of this gift the general is recognized in 
the particular ; the most general in the most particular ; the inner as outer ; 
that which is felt and thought as a thing that has shape ; the unity appears 
as a plurality, and thus the invisible becomes perceptible in the visible ; 
(122) why the too-finished plaything fails ; the nature of the child is to feel 
and experience, act and represent, think and recognize; (123) this play- 
thing satisfies the child by making it possible for him to represent and 
construct forms of beauty ; it is perfectly suitable to the child ; provides 
free action for him ; how the plaything is given to the child; (124) con- 
tinuation of presentation of plaything ; this essential, as first impressions 
are important ; (125) the observation of what is small and even impercepti-^ 
ble especially important in the mother's room ; use of cube with and by 
the child; (126) consideration of what the nurse shall do ; singing accom- 
paniment; (127) play continued with song ; value of song; (128) the child 
will occupy himself partly alone, partly with nurse in arranging blocks ; 
connecting ideas with forms ; child desires further connection ; (129) con- 
nection with persons, with the details of life ; stories told in connection 
with forms ; (130) cube arranged as ladders ; story of ladders ; child al- 
lowed the greatest freedom of invention ; experience of adult accompanies 
and explains; essential to remark that all the eight cubes always belong to 
each design ; (131) in this play nothing need ever exist without a relation to 
something else ; nor must anything appear without this relation ; the ulti- 
mate and highest aims of these . plays ; beauty forms ; (132) unity shines 
forth from them ; how bring this inner unity to the perception of the 
child; (133) let us go on this path, proceed to our lesson on Fig. 1, Plate 
V ; surfaces can join surfaces, edges edges, so the like can join ; opposites 
can join one another ; (134) this is made perceptible to the child by mov- 
ing and removing (Plate V, Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4) ; singing is added ; (135) changes 
with inner cubes as before with outer ; development of the four inner cubes 
(from Fig. 4 to Fig, 12; return from Fig. 12 to Fig. 4) ; movement of outer 
cubes, Plate V, Figs. 12 to 9 ; no undue pressure on the child's development 
or on the expression of his inner nature ; the whole comprehended from one 
point ; (136) singing accompaniment ; forms of beauty called also dance- 
forms ; possessing totality ; each individual there on account of the whole, 
and the whole on account of each individual ; (137) experiment with halves ; 
what it teaches; (138) what the child has learned and recognized is true ; 
what forms of knowledge can be to a child of from one to three years ; exer- 
cise with cubes showing variety of changes ; connect with singing ; com- 
pare and connect with song; (139) illustrative songs; (140) similar and yet 



xxiv PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

different forms presented with the quarters ; play illustrating relations of 
position as forms of knowledge ; song ; these songs may be used for quiet- 
ing the child ; (141) nurses can apply the lessons of the play so as to exert 
a direct influence on the child ; aim of this ; (142) what presents are most 
prized by the child as well as the man; encouragement to '-live with our 
children " ; importance of child's plays and occupations ; (143) mother's 
cradle song ; (144) conclusion of song. 

X. (P. 145) The continued development of the child and the self-unfold- 
ing play with the ball. A new play does not preclude the use of earlier 
plays ; effect of earlier and later plays on one another ; plays a whole ; 
their spirit one of union ; development of child also a whole ; comprehen- 
sion of the child's playing as a great living whole ; (146) what these play- 
things show ; use of ball as child's strength develops ; example of more 
varied play with the ball ; repetition and extension of play ; the child desires 
to learn the significance of what happens around him ; (147) of what this de- 
sire is the foundation, the cause, the reason ; the child desires to know the 
means, or at least the kind of relation which exists between things ; he even 
asks the object for its meaning and relations ; this premonition and this 
demand shown especially to the mother; the satisfying of these makes the 
child love and reverence parents and respect age ; weaving play ; song to 
increase the child's perception of the play ; (148) play symbolizes time con- 
sumed in weaving ; the child not to be told this ; he feels it when told to 
weave ; mothers and nurses can perceive coherence of the child's play with 
man's life ; other words for play, showing the accord of inner and outer life ; 
another side of play with the ball ; (149) throwing the ball on inclined sur- 
face and catching it as it rolls off; song for play ; meaning of play, inclina- 
tion and social union ; rhyme ; meaning, quicker movement through greater 
space ; rhyme showing that the force of a falling body is increased by the 
greater space through which it falls ; (150) child pleased by ball's rebound- 
ing from wall ; rhymes for this play hint at ball's elasticity ; also at the 
straightness of its path ; return to play of handling ball in free space ; 
reference to play of throwing ball from one hand to the other; (151) to 
this is added the throwing into the air ; rhyme ; a companion in the play 
(before solitary) ; play extended ; (152) oblique movements added to weav- 
ing play-action without visible result ; extension of simple throwing play : 
increased distance between players and higher arch described by ball; 
(153) play extended by use of two balls ; plays adapted to child's strength 
and skill which they develop ; three or four children can join in this 
play ; increased time in the passage of the ball causes increased desire in 
each child to have the ball come to him ; (154) rhyme sung to (or with) 
four or more children ; six or eight players, if skillful ; may have two or 
more balls of different colors ; balls compared to flowers ; subordination to 
law of motion ; plays in harmony with higher life of Nature and man ; 



ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS BY THE TRANSLATOR, xxv 

(155) so plays can not be too carefully cultivated ; return to play of throw- 
ing ball against a wall ; extension of play in which two or more children 
take part; apprentice and master play; continuation of this play; (156) 
conclusion of play ; (157) this play an image of, education and exercise for, 
and instruction about life ; what leads to the goal of life ; mother must 
feel the spirit of these plays; (158) he only who has the spirit of play can 
call it forth ; to he near such a one has a magnetic efi'ect on the child ; 
mothers and nurses should be trained for such fostering ; return to this sub- 
ject later ; finish discussion of play ; what can be learned by play of throwing 
the ball down on a flat surface and driving it back as it rebounds ; the child 
finds that strength is increased by use ; (159) he perceives this as a fact of 
his own nature, not limited to play with the ball ; ball song showing what 
the child needs in order to succeed in ball play ; meaning, to hold fast one 
high purpose in all vicissitudes ; incomplete view of details of the plays, etc., 
already given, (160) and of their influence on man proves proposition de- 
rived from insight into child-nature ; such nurture influences and devel- 
ops the child's whole nature ; suflicient for purposes of education to ofi'er 
child through these plays all we desire for his portion in life ; wish that 
these plays may be the possession of the child-world ; the genuine spirit of 
chnd-life could then be recognized ; how reach this result ? by introduc- 
ing these plays and occupations into infant schools ; (161) gain from such 
introduction ; for what the plays, etc., would serve ; what we must con- 
sider them, and why ; such introduction not sulficient ; establishment of 
kindergartens ; (162) children can use at home what they learned at kin- 
dergarten ; effect of this on family life ; aided by family sympathy ; union 
of families to form a kindergarten ; Froebel makes a proposition and dis- 
closes his plan for union of families into societies for the establishment of 
institutions ; (163) aim of such institutions ; their beneflcial results ; present 
training of child unsuited to present state of human development; means 
to be sought for more satisfactory guidance ; what these means are ; fami- 
lies called upon form such united organizations ; (164) what is our duty ; 
need of institutions to train those who are to have the care of c'hildren ; 
training school ; ofi'er to give needed information to parents and associa- 
tions ; mention of circumstances favoring FroebePs training school ; (165) 
a wish that the idea may flnd accord and sympathy, benefit the entire 
human race, and prove an individual as well as a general blessing. 

XI. (P. 166) The fourth play of the child; the child and the play; 
find the exact state of cultivation the child has reached before giving a 
new play ; cause of the child's pleasure in the gifts he receives ; (167) this 
faith should be preserved ; why? (168) what parents, nurses, and kinder- 
gartners should strive to do ; the child seeks the new which has been de- 
veloped from the old ; (169) seeks for a change ; the old within the child 
clarifies, transmutes, and unfolds itself; this according to definite law; 



xxvi PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

what is necessary for educators ; how has the child developed up to this 
point? (170) light in the child's mind illuminates the objects around him; 
he observes development in the things around him ; will perceive cau- 
sality ; recognizes law ; has been educated in conformity with this law ; the 
outer world in its essence helps the life of the soul ; (171) understand the 
plaything clearly before giving it to the child ; understand the purpose of 
the plaything ; what the purpose is ; in recognizing the ball the child moved 
from the indefinite to the definite, etc. ; the ball recognized as a body ; 
the child perceives himself a body ; (172) the child has two important terms 
of comparison for his first intellectual development, body and body, object 
and object; the kind of body important; the child feels himself as life; 
perceives the ball outside of himself in motion and as motion ; ball needed 
for development ; second gift ; sphere and cube illustrate the idea of a self- 
opposed imity ; description of sphere ; what it illustrates ; what the cube 
illustrates ; further description of second gift ; cube divided into eight 
parts shows the qualities of the whole cube eight times ; (173) three direc- 
tions come forth by means of the divided cube ; three inner ; three surface ; 
further notice of these ; a new gift demanded ; description of the fourth 
gift ; (174) each object given must condition the one that follows ; condi- 
tions fulfilled in gifts up to this point ; another requirement of a satisfactory 
human education given ; this requirement has been hitherto met ; another 
fundamental idea given ; the making the external internal, etc. ; (175) the 
cube divided into eight building blocks — the fourth gift of the series ; its 
nature ; this simple alteration gives a new significance to play and play- 
thing ; the alteration described ; forms of this gift incline toward surface- 
forms ; these forms divided into forms of life, of beauty, of knowledge ; 
(176) use of play ; name must be given to what has originated under the 
hand of the child ; talk with the child about what he knows ; habits of at- 
tention must be formed ; (177) all representations connected with an inner 
precise condition ; conditions given ; child must use all the material before 
him ; what develops through fulfilling these conditions ; description of 
play with cube ; (178) further descriptions of play ; (179) still further de- 
scriptions ; song ; (180) description continued ; important for and pleasing 
to the child to see how one object springs from another and can be turned 
into another ; isolation and seclusion destroy life ; union and participation 
create life; living objects represented by blocks ; (181) stories and talks to 
be used ; observations of forms of knowledge ; (182) bench divided ; rela- 
tions of size illustrated by fourth gift ; " high wall " the easiest transition 
to forms of knowledge ; gift shows similarity of size, dissimilarity of dimen- 
sion, and position ; (183) song for halving cube ; division may be either 
vertical or horizontal ; song ; further divisions ; song ; further changes ; 
(184) songs ; new variation of exercises ; song ; (185) fourth gift ofiers 
nacre forms of knowledge than the third ; forms adapted to children of 



ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS BY THE TRANSLATOR, xxvii 

three or four years ; comprehension of the gift by the mother gives the 
play a life impossible to describe by lifeless word; (186) the true aim of 
education — to lead to comprehension of harmony ; we turn to the considera- 
tion of forms of beauty — harmonious forms ; value of last name ; forms of 
knowledge the suitable transition to forms of beauty ; example ; (187) 
forms radiate, circular ; description of radiate form ; illustrated ; (188) 
pleasant filling up of time for children ; developing also ; another consid- 
eration ; comparison with forms of beauty of third gift shows those of 
fourth gift contained in those of third as in a germ, or bud ; (189) vast 
number of different forms proceed from germinal form ; three relations of 
size as abiding in fourth gift as the position of the three principal direc- 
tions ; each of the fourth gift forms of beauty may be regarded and used as 
a fundamental form ; what follows this ; illustration ; (190) all forms re- 
late to the germinal form ; the influence of this gift for the child lies in 
the visible connection of the pure antitheses ; child learns that law is at 
the foundation even of accident ; illustration of this law important ; how to 
carry on these representations of forms of beauty ; (191) way of carrying on 
these representations; (192) word to accompany form; wheel forms; two 
points considered ; (193) first the play and the adult playmate, second tire 
relation of the different gifts ; (194) third and fourth gifts complement 
each other in a striking manner ; their alternate use necessary ; how the 
child should treat contents of box ; each child must have his own box ; 
(195) the play-box to be treated as a companion; when the child can use 
each gift separately he may use them together. 

XII. (P. 196) Second review of play — a fragment. Froebel was asked 
to elaborate his material ; to state inner and outer connection ; one reason 
for complying with this wish ; he tries to connect with first review ; enters 
more deeply into the subject ; Nature our example ; essential nature of ma- 
terial objects; study process of natural development; why? how each 
natural object develops; (197) threefold result of search for ground of this; 
find element in the common unity of the threefold process ; the three 
forms in which this element shows itself; pivot on which all turns ; (198) 
condition of manifestation of completeness in Nature ; what we must do ; 
what we can thus help men to attain; what is necessary even for the 
wisest ; through and to what man must rise ; what we observe in Nature ; 
man must unfold and develop in unity with Nature ; what else he must 
do ; what we must endeavor to make our children perceive and do ; Nature 
and life interpret each other ; how force and life manifest themselves ; 
(199) how specific life form and size show themselves ; size and form im- 
ply number ; why we gave the child a ball for his first plaything ; the ball 
a symbol of the universal life; universal qualities of material objects 
thrown into relief by play with ball ; what the child learns by such play ; 
what he recognizes in the structure of the ball ; what the ball becomes to 



xxviii PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

the child ; hall helps the child to grasp and use objects ; the means for the 
end ; nature and relationship of contrasts in the ball — how accentuated ; 
(200) connect second review with first ; sphere and cube given separately ; 
given together to the child ; latter way especially important ; cause ; the 
second forms complementary ; to what the plays with the ball and those 
with the sphere lead. 

XIII. (P. 201) The fifth gift. The cube divided equally twice in each 
dimension and with obliquely divided component cubes. Evolution of this 
gift from the preceding gifts and from the nature of the child and his en- 
vironment ; from and toward what the child's development proceeds ; of 
what the child's plays and playthings are the means ; how we have di- 
rected the child's activity ; progress of gifts from ball to sphere ; (202) un- 
divided cube, third gift, fourth gift ; description of each ; (203) description 
concluded ; what this review shows ; fifth gift indicated in and demanded 
by previous gifts ; cube divided once in each dimension ; natural progress 
from one to two ; what this division by threes yields ; a new feature added ; 
the diagonal ; how demanded ; where and how suggested ; demand of new 
gift ; (204) oblique line the diagonal of a square ; how produced; by what 
this division is demanded ; how shall cube be diagonally divided ? how 
many cubes shall be thus divided ? fundamental nmnber in this gift ; three 
whole, three halved, three quartered cubes form one third fifth gift ; sum- 
ming up ; use of this gift ; it is a symmetrical whole ; its arrangement in 
box; (205) how to remove box from cube; advantage to the child of this 
way of removal ; first use of the fifth gift ; (206) the representation of 
forms of knowledge ; the simplest obtained by division ; simplest form of 
division ; first division of cube ; division and plane of division of third 
gift; threefold division repeated in fifth gift; difi'erences between the 
division of the two gifts ; variation of arrangement in fifth gift ; how per- 
ceptions and recognitions are gained ; merit and influence of this play ma- 
terial ; words added later; (207) rhythmic speech produces clearer con- 
sciousness ; dividing and recombining cube accompanied by words ; effect 
of rhythmic form of words; arrangementof the thirds of the cube; different 
position of the thirds makes them seem different things to the child; (208) 
this second division, etc., also accompanied by words ; law to be observed 
in all plays ; illustration ; incitement to thought and feeling ; (209) the 
child likes to find out how one form comes from another ; see previous illus- 
tration, page 208 ; words given to each form ; words uttered rhythmically, 
child pointing to forms at the same time ; words may have rhythmic form ; 
(210) other rhymes ; aim of all that is done ; clearness and precision to be 
given to what the child makes ; return to division of cube ; thirds divided 
into ninths in three difierent ways : ninths into twenty-sevenths ; parts of 
fifth gift imited into difierent solid forms, and each of these divided into 
two or more equal parts ; point of resemblance between these forms ; facts 



ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS BY THE TRANSLATOR, xxix 

apparent when forms are made ; (211) rhymed questions and suggestions ; 
change of one form important ; how the forms advance ; separation, divi- 
sion, recombination ; (212) result; reference to plate; bodies resolved into 
their different parts ; number of square prisms to be made at the same time 
by the fifth gift ; all equal ; all unequal ; equal and unequal ; same thing 
done with other forms ; point of prime importance ; illustration ; illustra- 
tion concluded ; (213) reasons for detail ; (214) first combination of square 
prisms ; resulting structure ; relative size of square tablets in structure ; 
perceptions gained are precisely expressed in geometry ; with this gift it is 
merely play; words and observation connected; (215) make relative sizes 
clea?- to the child ; second, combination — three square prisms inclosing 
hollow, right-angled triangles ; third, square prism contains as many cubes 
as both the others ; illustration ; rhymed description ; description for each 
stage of representation ; (216) make word, act, and subject explain each 
other ; interest of finding and combining forms ; now come figures unlike 
in form but with equal contents ; illustration — first series ; (217) second 
series ; third series ; facts brought out by observing these series ; (218) facts 
concluded ; facts shown in third series, also shown by third gift ; repetition 
profitable to the child ; (219) translation to forms of beauty and forms of life 
very simple ; children begin with forms of life ; all the blocks to be used; 
those not used in the main part must bear some relation to it ; why we be- 
gin with forms of life ; child advances from use to beauty, from beauty to 
truth; object of giving forms of knowledge first in presenting this gift: 
leader's knowledge of gift increases the pleasure and profit of play with it ; 
(220) forms of life proceed from the cube as a whole; advantage of this ; 
box packed in same order and removed from cube in same way as before ; 
cube called a table, house, or other object ; directions for series beginning 
with armchair ; for series beginning with large table ; renaming of forms 
which the child has made with fifth gift; (221) rhyme for the renaming; 
proceeding from cube make three trunks ; children like to make houses ; 
why ? why houses with doors and windows are preferred ; child's use of 
blocks shows his increased acquaintance with things beyond his home ; 
mention of some of these fcn-ms which can be made with this gift ; list con- 
cluded; (222) intimate connection of Froebel's gifts with the child's de- 
velopment ; their eff'ect on him ; connection of the child's representations 
and experiences ; his representations a means of correcting his percep- 
tions ; building gifts extend perceptions ; examples ; stories joined with the 
child's representations; advantage; building in common ; (223) directions 
for building with fifth gift a large house and two small ones ; song ex- 
presses the child's pleasure and describes what he has made ; (224) song 
ended ; naming different parts of the house ; art-building from which forms 
of beauty proceed ; these forms also come from certain forms of life and 
architecture ; forms of beauty develop one from another ; each a change 



XXX PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

from the former ; no form entirely destroyed ; another essential ; (225) 
these points were discussed before ; second way of proceeding to forms of 
beauty ; fact to be considered before adopting the second way ; how forms 
of beauty of the fifth gift differ from those of third and fourth ; surest foun- 
dation of both series; foundation the of first; (226) of second; the square 
the fundamental form of first series ; in what the beauty and influence of 
these plays consist ; second point of importance ; advantage of this man- 
ner of carrying out the play ; how the trustful relationship between mother 
and child, etc., is kept intact ; (227) the child begins changes inside square 
or outside triangles ; in these again he may begin with the inner or outer 
blocks of form chosen ; a further choice ; limitation implied in so much 
change ; what the child must do if the series of ^development is broken 
off; proceed from fundamental form; form admits of variety; unfolding 
from the middle on all sides; directions; (228) directions continued; 
change of position of cubes, though the appearance remains the same ; this 
fact generalized of great importance ; a law of Nature and of life ; frequent 
reference made to it ; other laws dealt with in same way ; example ; direc- 
tions continued ; concluded ; (229) final form kept in mind ; three final 
forms ; each admits of a double manner of representation ; remark in re- 
spect to forms of beauty in both series; illustration; (230) illustration 
concluded ; remaining fact to be brought out ; triangular forms of beauty ; 
the starting point; condition of advancement; (231) change made by 
moving the cubes toward inside or outside; result; why this change 
pleases ; a cube on each side is set free for play ; the different positions 
it may take ; the six different forms a logical whole ; other positions for 
the three free cubes; (232) law of connection pointed out even in third 
gift ; alterations possible with three free cubes by no means exhausted ; 
alterations possible if one or more of the eight cubes be halved ; prin- 
cipal alteration ; changes possible in first case ; in second case ; (233) one 
hundred representations possible if the three cubes are halved ; if one 
of the half-cubes be halved; each free cube changed to one half and two 
fourths ; about three hundred combinations made possible by this change ; 
the three cubes changed each into four fourths allow of at least five hun- 
dred representations ; thus nearly one thousand possible with but three 
free cubes ; necessity for classifying representations ; unclassified ones op- 
press by their magnitude ; want of classification the bane of children's 
plays ; (234) plays lose their formative influence by this lack ; limitation 
excludes many forms, prevents kindergartner and children from losing 
their way among the forms, enables guide (if a true guide) to know where 
they are ; thus these plays are not wearying but improving on account of 
the educator's knowledge ; next series ; two cubes on each side set free for 
play; changes possible in these six cubes; (235) movement of the cubes 
of the inclosure ; moving them in and out ; the smaller the inclosure the 



ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS BY THE TRANSLATOR, xxxi 

richer the structure of the representations ; tend toward curved form : pro- 
gress to two and two-sided forms ; conclude with circle ; representation of 
cog wheels ; intrenchments, sconces, and redoubts ; previously mentioned ; 
(236) spirit of unity in forms of fifth gift ; use for diagrams ; for whom 
originally intended ; their object ; when given to the children ; purposes 
served by this. 

XIV. (P. 237) Movement plays. Some relation expressed in every ac- 
tivity of the child ; material is required to realize aims ; kindergarten gifts 
lead child to the handling of material ; each incites to free self-activity ; 
movement plays developing from gifts not yet considered ; omission inten- 
tional ; we now attend to movement plays ; (238) why explanation of sixth 
gift is postponed ; we must meet needs of inner development, not only re- 
spond to outward manifestations; final ground of child's outer activity; 
deepest craving of his inner life ; what child learns through the refiection 
of such life ; why such reflection is essential ; law of development ; its 
recognition the aim of Froebel's gifts and games ; (239) external phenomena 
in child's life to be studied ; children our guides ; cause of child's joyous 
movement when seeing a moving object ; the child seeks cause for move- 
ment of the object ; the educator's procedure should be similar; the child's 
own nature the main consideration in his education ; external phenomena 
sometimes a guide-post, never a path ; condition of child-education ; no 
other education worthy the nature of man ; (240) we now consider starting 
and course of development of movement plays ; child's unconscious en- 
deavor ; he tries to do what he sees done ; ball set in motion ; song showing 
what ball can do ; (241) ball's activities the germ of movement plays ; the 
child wishes to move like ball ; reason the child likes independent move- 
ment ; threefold feeling caused by walking ; what we must do, and why ; 
the three elements of the child's pleasure in his first walking should all be 
fostered at the same time; the child should use his power and get his 
whole body into his power ; (242) what else he should learn ; illustration 
of child's threefold purpose ; source of child's effort to reach some particu- 
lar object; well to name object and its parts and properties ; object of this 
naming ; development of speech by child's experiences ; (243) how we must 
help the child to these experiences ; each new phenomenon a discovery ; 
child-nurture ceases to be a task ; motives for becoming a nurse ; the child 
likes to go from place to place ; what he seeks by change of place ; each 
walk a tour of discovery, each object a new world ; apparent digression ; 
(244) return to first movement-play, " child wants to go on a journey " ; A, 
traveling plays ; object and character of these plays ; 1, the child wants to 
travel ; motion of ball in ball play makes the child want to move ; direc- 
tions for play; Froebel's experience; (245) further description of play ; ex- 
tension of play; children take turns ; further extension of play ; (246) the 
child names children in circle ; advantage of this ; another addition ; why 
3 



xxxii PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

it is beneficial ; manner of naming children varies -vvitli the age of the child 
who names ; progressive development of game corresponds with intellectual 
and physical development of children ; (247) children may fOTm square in- 
stead of circle ; each new play develops from the preceding ones ; next de- 
velopment of walking game ; the walking of all the children at the same 
time; this unfolded naturally in playroom; 2, general traveling game; 
directions for game; (248) song for game; game actually developed as 
described ; description continued ; (249) song continued ; (250) another song 
may be used ; children do what song suggests ; 3, walking plays of many 
children in small space ; game enjoyed by children in Froebel's kinder- 
garten; (251) 4, visiting plays, or going to make calls, develops from the 
walking ; description of play ; (252) description continued ; (253) descrip- 
tion concluded ; sources of children's delight in this game ; 5, the winding 
brook ; one of the first movement plays developed by the children in Froe- 
bel's kindergarten gave them much pleasure ; description and song for play ; 
(254) song concluded, also description ; B, brook play, a transition from 
journeying games to those representing an object ; 1, the snail ; a favorite 
play in Froebel's kindergarten, where it is originated ; sometimes played as 
continuation of brook play ; description of snail play ; (255) description con- 
tinued; snail song; description and song continued ; (256) description and 
song concluded ; snail game often ends circle plays ; why well suited to 
this purpose ; how snail play originated ; object of these plays ; representa- 
tion plays proceeding from life and needs of very little children ; children 
like to clasp hands and run roimd a tree or column ; (257) this desire the 
origin in Froebel's kindergarten of 2, mill play ; description of play ; (258) 
description continued ; song ; figure made by children represents wheel of 
water mill ; child led to perceive and compare moving power in himself 
and the water ; the whole may be wings of windmill ; song ; why liked by 
children ; comparison of power of Nature and of the mind ; (259) lines 
added to song ; close of play leads child's attention to effect of too vigorous 
movement ; game played without a pillar — in the open air ; way of play- 
ing in each case ; movement made in opposite direction ; play came 
from girl-life; another play from boy-life; 3, the wheel; directions; 
(260) directions concluded ; song for play ; play called star game ; to 
what child is led by these plays; ground of child's pleasure in these 
plays; (261) delight of children in movement plays not caused by 
mere bodily activity ; true source of their joy ; we must thoughtfully 
observe children's plays ; good efl'ects of such observation ; Froebel's ob- 
ject in showing how plays started and developed in his own kindergarten ; 
what becomes apparent by generalizing results of his experience ; (262) 4, 
circle, star, flower, and crown play belongs to representing circular move- 
ment plays ; directions and song for play ; (263) directions and song con- 
tinued ; (264) both concluded ; each of these four plays may be used as a 



ANALYSIS OP CONTENTS BY THE TRANSLATOR, xxxiii 

single play for very small children ; (265) nature and spirit of this play ; 
C, the running plays develop from preceding ones ; running plays the 
lirst of completely developed power of motion ; to what, and how, play with 
ball incites child ; 1, racing game, a great favorite with children ; where 
played; racing ground described; directions for play; (266) song for play ; 
directions concluded ; other running plays — when mentioned ; D, the 
pure running games ; take into account position of body and movement 
of limbs ; name more appropriate than marching ; 1, the simple walking 
game ; how done ; arrangement of children ; (267) directions and song for 
play ; song for changing room and play ; change in play accompanied by 
singing rhyme ; why ? (268) wordless melodies with walking plays ; to 
what adapted ; 2, circular walking game ; more difficult to walk round 
circle than straight forward ; latter movement used first and oftenest ; cir- 
cular movement especially attracts small children ; how to combine the 
two forms of play ; song ; real circling games ; song to direct attention to 
circle; to position of feet; (269) freely moving ball the incitement to 
movement plays hitherto given; ball on string incites to another series ; 
illustration ; origin and aim of this series ; (270) movement plays proceed- 
ing from the ball on the string, which have in view at the same time an 
exact training of the body and limbs ; A, swinging movement plays ; di- 
rections and song ; waving movement, like that of grain moved by wind ; 
leader sees to the good order of circle ; each member should have chance 
to lead; why? (271) important to foster child's delight in play; another 
movement introduced ; directions and song continued ; harmony of action 
important ; harmony of word and movement necessary ; (272) directions 
and song continued; (273) words sung as interpretation of movement; 
why ? resting play to follow very active games ; circling movement of ball 
on string gives rise to series of (B), circling and turning movement plays 
proceeding from the ball ; directions and song for play continued ; (274) 
swinging arms in circle used as windmill play ; (275) directions and song 
for this play ; developing influence ; final form can be used as conclusion 
of series ; ball swings in horizontal circle ; (276) song ; child perceives that 
one side of ball swung in circle looks toward middle ; rhyme ; this indica- 
tion points to a new series of movement plays ; directions and songs ; care 
taken that circle is perfect ; why ? (277) directions and song for play of 
finding middle of circle ; where originated ; Langethal's development of 
play ; song he made for it ; child in middle keeps order in the circle ; 
(278) effect of center and circumference on each other ; " Child, turn thee " 
developed from those plays just described ; arrangement of children ; par- 
ticular and general brought together in this play ; demand of the spirit 
and character of Froebel's plays; fidelity to higher spirit of play needed 
for its full efiect ; directions continued ; (279) spinning movement hard 
for small children ; (280) what leader may do; directions concluded; re- 



xxxiv PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

ciprocal activity of individual and whole ; close of this series ; particular, 
individual, and general shown in play are recognized by child in Nature 
and life ; important experience for child ; manner of evolution ; one chief 
aim of early education ; (281) such experience offered to children in cir- 
cling movement plays ; "illustrated by play of " seeing each other and not 
seeing each other " ; directions and song for play ; continued ; (282) com- 
parison essential ; play that affords comparison has a developing influence ; 
comparison employed in Froebel's games ; second way of playing thia 
game ; (283) directions and song for this second way of playing concluded; 
(284) end of movement plays proceeding from ball, and of indications of 
their significance for the threefold life of child and man ; (285) movement 
plays farther progress from sphere, 

XV. (P. 286) How Lina learned to write and read. Lina's age ; what 
Lina could do; (287) Lina always contented and cheerful; Lina per- 
mitted to be much with her parents ; father receives a letter ; desire to 
write a letter aroused ; mother proposes to make letters with sticks ; in- 
struction as to letter- writing ; first learns sounds in name; (288) learns 
signs for these sounds; exercise in both-; (289) same continued; mother 
and child take part alternately ; learns A ; (290) exercise continued ; 
learns I ; learns L I ; then N A ; then both together are made and sounded ; 
(291) letters left for father to read; father reads Lina's name; father's and 
uncle's questions as to letters and signs ; pleasure resulting to all : (292) 
uncle's suggests that Lina lay and read " muttek " the next day ; Lina begs 
her mother to teach her the word " mutter " ; mother proposes to her to 
learn " vater " ; Lina agrees ; exercise of close and open sounds ; (293) 
exercise continues ; Lina learns E ; then V T E ; the close sounds ; Lina 
asks to learn " mutter " ; mother consents ; (294) child required to speak 
the word clearly and distinctly ; a new open sound u ; a new close sound 
m ; child lays and pronounces " vater," " mutter " ; pleasure in showing 
words to father and uncle ; Lina examined ; (295) father adds the word 
LIEB ; asks Lina to read it ; she knows three of the sounds ; does not 
know what the " bow " means ; mother explains ; exercise with the word ; 
Lina very grateful ; uncle asks Lina to lay these words the next day ; 

(296) Lina's first care the next day to do what her uncle asked ; helped by 
her mother, she lays the German words for " my dear uncle," " my dear 
father," "my dear mother"; uncle adds in German, "Lina is our dear 
child"; the three unfamiliar sounds soon learned with the mother's help; 

(297) at Lina's request the mother helped her to lay in German, " You are 
our good father"; one new sign, G; father much pleased; Lina learns 
names of relations, etc. ; the father goes on a journey ; Lina longs to write 
him a letter ; begs her mother to help her ; (298) a slate and slate pencil pro- 
vided ; Lina pleased with the straight lines and squares ; disappointed not 
to find pen and paper ; mother consoles her ; (299) taught to handle elate 



ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS BY THE TRANSLATOR, xxxv 

pencil; lays her name with sticks; mother shows her how to indicate 
the length of one of the sticks by a straight mark two squares long ; 
helped by her, Lina writes her name on the slate ; Lina asks to write a 
letter to her father on the slate ; mother consents ; (300) mother helps 
with letter; process described; (301) uncle comes in; is delighted with 
letter ; fears the slate will cost a good deal of postage ; fears it will he 
broken ; Lina tells him sadly that this is only a trial ; mother promises Lina 
some cross-lined paper and a lead pencil from the city to-morrow ; uncle 
laughs, and lays before the child a sheet of paper with cross-lines and a 
colored pencil ; Lina surprised and delighted ; (302) the next day copied 
her letter on the paper her uncle had brought to her ; letter sent to father ; 
Lina asks if her father will write to her in reply ; mother bids her wait ; 
letter arrives ; (303) the little girl joyful and grateful ; finds she can read 
her father's letter ; reads it to her mother; (304) sorry to have her father 
away so long ; mother proposes to her to write another letter to him ; (305) 
takes great pains that her father may find an improvement in the letter ; 
regular correspondence with father ; joy the great propeller ; mother and 
uncle know this and act accordingly ; (306) what greater delight to a child 
than to have a book of its own ; father sends book to Lina ; (307) shows it 
to uncle ; looks at pictures in book ; wishes to read it ; makes out some of 
the letters ; (308) mother leaves her with the book; at last comes to her ; 
encourages her as to learning all the letters ; notice of lines ; (309) child 
points out the letters she already knows ; too dark for further work ; 
mother tells a story of people who lived long ago and could not write ; 
what is writing and being able to write ; (310) writing is the joining of the 
transient sound with the permanent sign ; experience helps understanding ; 
mother tells of a shepherd ; what shepherds discovered ; (311) a shepherd 
who found out how to write with letters ; the way it was done ; (312) con- 
tinuation of the way of doing it ; shepherds to be regarded with respect ; 
(313) always employ time well when alone ; mother tells Lina to get the 
light, and she will teach her what she needs for understanding her book ; 
takes the father's letters as a help ; tells Lina to take I, (314) and com- 
pare with S (German) ; finds differing lines ; finds likeness and difference 
in the two letters ; compares the two Fs ; (315) repetition of comparison ; 
likeness found between the two Bs; between the Es and Ks; (316) 
enough for to-day ; promise for the morrow ; Lina to examine letters by 
herself ; first thought in the morning; Lina brought up in all-sided life- 
union ; led quietly to pray for all good things ; each day a valuable gift ; 
(317) examines the large letters in her book ; finds the letters her father 
had used ; runs to show them to her mother ; mother promises to come 
soon ; wishes for uncle also ; shows him when he comes all she has found ; 
uncle delighted ; lets her find the same letters on other pages ; Lina's 
mother comes in ; (318) shares in the pleasure ; all three perceive a simple 



xxxvi PEDAGOGICS OP THE KINDERGARTEN. 

comprehensive law ; what that law is ; Lina grieves because she can not 
read the small letters; begs to be taught; (319) mother encourages her; 
what Lina had found out with regard to learning ; mother asks about the 
first letter that Lina learned ; (320) the German $j sprouts from the I as 
the curled-up, unopened leaf from the germ ; so it is with many things ; so 
with our large printing letters (German) ; Lina finds small letter most re- 
sembling the large 3 ; compares ; (321) finds which among the small letters 
is like the large F ; compares ; compares D ; places German 2), D and small 
d side by side ; examines ; (322) Lina asks to go to kindergarten ; takes 
Minna ; former playmates delighted to see her ; is asked what she does at 
home ; kindergartner allows questions and answers ; Lina tells of her 
book ; (323) Lina tells how her mother taught her to lay her name with 
sticks; children beg- to be shown the way; kindergartner approves; 
Lina lays her name ; Minna's also ; children wish to learn ; Lina tells them 
what they must do ; (324) tells them their dear gardener will help them ; 
they detain Lina for a play ; good-by ; (325) kindergartener's lesson to 
her children ; Lina's visit productive of good ; desire of the children to 
learn comes naturally ; first thing Lina did on reaching home ; (S-26) seeks 
book early in the morning to compare letters ; hopes for her mother's help ; 
knows twelve small letters ; (327) Lina shows her uncle what she has 
found; asks her mother if she is right; asks her uncle to tell her what 
signs mean, and how they are spoken ; uncle agrees ; mother approves ; 
(328) uncle tells her to bring slate and pencil ; uncle draws the letters for 
comparison side by side, then one within the other ; in this way the child 
can see the differences, also the essential and abiding ; uncle shows com- 
pound letters ; and change of form in letter S ; then shows the double S ; 
then the St ; open sound ; (329) Lina knows St and S ; uncle teaches her 
the double sign ch and the sound ; then sch ; asks her to analyze it ; (330) 
Lina sounds sch; explains j ; shows the two sounds of j ; compares with 
g; (331) Lina thanks uncle for help and for drawing so nicely; uncle 
points out the value of drawing ; bids Lina go over carefully all she has 
learned, as the mother is to examine them ; uncle goes ; Lina obeys him j 
gives uncle's message to her mother ; asks if she may have Minna to play 
with her ; (332) is permitted to go ; tells Minna they will play kindergar- 
ten with dolls ; must leave what dolls do for mother to see ; (333) tells 
what dolls have done ; mother happy as well as the child, but from other 
causes ; why she is happy ; bids Lina to tell dolls to put things in their 
places before they go ; tells Lina to thank Minna for coming, and take her 
home; then come back and show what her uncle had taught her; Lina 
shows first the relation and development of the form of A, E, G, Q, T, C ; 
makes them on the slate ; doing this makes many things clearer to her ; 
(334) mother calls to her notice this and that thing either forgotten or 
overlooked by her uncle ; Lina also pronounces j and s, and the compounds 



ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS BY THE TRANSLATOR, xxxvii 

of the latter letter ; Lina calls her mother's attention to her uncle's nice 
drawing ; mother tells the uses of drawing ; calls attention to living Na- 
ture ; representative drawing and explanatory word ; one explains the 
other ; pleasure expressed by Lina in her book ; can read a great many 
words in it ; mother eager to hear ; (335) Lina reads the words she knows ; 
can read a whole line ; mother praises her ; tells her what to do if she can 
not at once read a word ; goes to other work ; Lina reads the first story in 
the book to herself; then to her mother and uncle, to their great delight; 
mother makes her notice the meaning of the punctuation marks ; (336) 
uncle notices the bulky sheet ; Lina wishes she could write small, like her 
mother ; asks to be taught ; mother says she can not spare the time'; tella 
her she will learn it at the preparatory school, to which she is to go when 
her father returns ; Lina satisfied. 



PEDAGOGICS 
OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 



THE TWO VIEWS — A NEW-YEAR S MEDITATION. 

At the conclusion of an old and the beginning of a 
new year, even as his eyes turn toward the coming year, 
man appears almost involuntarily to look back on the fast 
departing time of his life, on the year so soon to end ; for 
beams, like those of the parting sun, once more illumine 
all objects in the past year with their light and attract 
the gaze of man. He stands there thoughtfully, his soul 
absorbed in the farewell to the old and the greeting to 
the new year. He looks back upon all which, in the year 
now vanishing, he has done or neglected ; for which he 
has striven, or which he has lost ; in which he has been 
successful or unsuccessful ; which have been his helps or 
his hindrances. He examines what has been attained, 
and what has been denied to his efforts, his wishes. He 
inquires as to the effects of what has been done, and 
the consequences of what has been neglected. He com- 
pares the form of what has been achieved with, the spirit 
of what was desired, and seeks for the reason why much 
that appeared within his reach is yet not attained. The 



2 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

earlier efforts and desires, as far as they have been justi- 
fied through the old year, animate him now with greater 
clearness ; and as he finds in himself new germs of action 
and of new deeds, so, gazing into the coming year, his 
mind and heart are filled with new efforts, new hopes, and 
new strength. He searches for the ways and means by 
which they may be most surely and quickly attained, and, 
viewing the subject on all sides, he finally settles upon one 
thought as the essence of all, as the foundation of the cor- 
rect or incorrect comprehension and treatment of what life 
in its totality gives ; this thought is that which the educa- 
tion of man for life gave or did not give, offers and still 
withholds; on that which, above all, the domestic, the 
family education, the first education, the education of life, 
gives or does not give to man. Through a glance into 
the innermost heart of man, into his individual life, and 
at that which education gave or denied him, all resolves 
itself into the mute but vivid feeling, into the quiet but 
clear thought : would there might be for the human being, 
for my child, even from its first advent on this globe, a 
correct comprehension of its beiug, a suitable fostering 
and management, the education truly leading to the all- 
sided attainment of its destiny — in short, a correct com- 
prehension and treatment of that which is called life ! 

But what man desires, as deeply grounded in his na- 
ture, and for which he longs as corresponding with these 
demands, he will self- actively enter upon efforts to ob- 
tain ; only he soon feels, anticipates, and recognizes that, 
as a human being, he does not and is not to stand alone ; 
he is, as a human being, a member not only of his fami- 
ly, his community, his country, the whole race of man- 
kind now existing, but of all humanity. He is and makes 
a Tyhole with all j all make and are a whole with him ; and 



THE TWO VIEWS. 3 

only as a member of the whole he will and can attain in 
freer, more spiritual union with this whole that which he, 
as a human being, perceives and strives to attain. Alone 
he can do but little, and therefore a unifying thought fills 
his mind, a feeling of unity his soul. Would that several, 
many — yes, all, or, at least, would that those nearest to me 
— would unite with me in working for all, as for each indi- 
vidual ! And so, especially to-day, while gazing back upon 
the old and forward to the new year, there bursts forth 
from man's breast, as the all-embracing and all- compre- 
hending thought, the all-embracing and all-comprehend- 
ing feeling, this appeal to all who think and feel with 
him: 

" Come, let us live with our children ! " 

This appeal, uniting and comprising all, also expresses 
all our feelings, all our thoughts to-day, at the conclusion 
of the old and the beginning of the new year.. We in- 
deed anticipate, hope, and believe that it is the more or 
less clear feeling, the uttered or silent thought of many — 
of all, indeed, who lead considerate and thoughtful lives. 
Therefore, even to-day in the old year, the determination 
to " live with our children," and the immediate realization 
of this determination, express the desire felt by many for 
union in spirit and for common effort ; consequently the 
coming year from its first day, even from its first hour, 
may thus become the most important opportunity for hu- 
manity — an opportunity to unite for the welfare of the in- 
dividual human being as well as for the good of all hu- 
manity. Such united effort will make this indeed a new 
year. 

But what awakes in us the anticipation, what secures 
to us the belief and gives us the conviction that the idea, 
" Come, let us live with our children," is not only to- 



4 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

day in the old, the departing, and in the new, the coming 
year, but at all times, the uniting, fundamental, living 
thought of many ; and that it not only finds accord and 
sympathy in the human breast, but is held fast in the life 
and deeds of humanity ? 

There is no man who was not a child — not one who 
does not know at his stage of culture what he became or 
did not become by the holding fast or not holding fast 
to this living thought ; yet all feel deeply, and, indeed, 
express frequently to themselves and others, what they 
might have become by a general adherence to this idea. 
If we ponder even for a short time on the definite hold- 
ing fast to this idea, we must deeply experience and 
clearly recognize that by carrying it out ourselves, by the 
remembrances of our childhood which it arouses in us, by 
the complementing and completing which it gives to our 
own life, and by the demand which it makes and the op- 
portunity which it gives for our own increasing improve- 
ment, we live our own best life. 

This cry escapes us; it hopes to find sympathy and 
accord in the breast of man ; the all-embracing heart, the 
penetrating intellect, perceive it in all things as a silent 
feeling, a quiet thought, and so as the thought of the 
world. 

Heart and mind see it express itself in deed and as a 
fact in the whole of which man is only a part, of which 
he himself is a member. Does not the sun with all the 
stars say it to the earth with all its creatures, all its chil- 
dren ? Do not the elements, earth, water, air, light, heat, 
say it to one another in reference to all forms of earth ? 
Do not all the parts of every plant say it to one another 
in reference to the seed quietly growing in its place? 
Yes, in all Nature, where life and activity make themselves 



THE TWO VIEWS. 5 

known, where the individual strives to absorb the unit and 
the whole (as, for example, the kernel contains the nature 
of the whole tree) in order to make it more perfectly 
known and demonstrated in manifoldness and totality — 
everywhere we see the idea, " Come, let us live with our 
children," express itself as the maxim which applies to all 
life. 

Should not now the conscious human being, destined 
to rise to yet higher consciousness, express aloud for mu- 
tual advancement and recognition, and also for common 
employment and accomplishment, what nature already 
silently expresses as a general law, a prevailing demand of 
life? 

Therefore this appeal hopes to reach those who will 
not only sympathize with it, but also assent to it and 
respond to it in action. For is not man more than 
every other creature in nature, and the child more than 
the germ of a plant ? The tree germ bears within itself 
the nature of the whole tree, the human being bears in 
himself the nature of all humanity; and is not, there- 
fore, humanity born anew in each child ? But who has 
fathomed this nature ? Who has measured it ? Does it 
not rest in God ? 

Thus the appeal, " Come, let us live with our chil- 
dren," is a true life call, uniting all in itself as in a cen- 
tral point, on the dividing line between the departing and 
the coming year ; since it indeed mingles with all life ; 
not only uniting human beings and human life with each 
other and with humanity, not only uniting the creature 
with the universe, but even with the fountain of all life, 
with the Creator, who said, " Let us make man in our own 
image." 

Therefore, " Come, let us live with our children ! " 



6 PEDAGOGICS OP THE KINDERGARTEN. 

The Deed. 

Where true resolution and genuine effort for compre- 
hensive representation of life exist there appears also di- 
rectly the deed, as is, in general, the case with the clear, 
self-dependent, uniting thought that immediately seeks 
also to manifest itself in action. The fundamental and liv- 
ing thought of humanity, " Come, let us live with our chil- 
dren," becomes, when manifested in action, an institution 
for fostering family life and for the cultivation of the life 
of the nation, and of mankind, through fostering the im- 
pulse to activity, investigation, and culture in man, in 
the child as a member of the family, of the nation, and of 
humanity ; an institution for self -instruction, self-educa- 
tion, and self-cultivation of mankind, as well as for all- 
sided and therefore for individual cultivation of the same 
through play, creative self-activity, and spontaneous self- 
instruction ; first of all, for families and schools for the 
nurture of little children ; for primary and public schools 
as well as for every person who strives for completeness 
and unity in his culture ; to the carrying out of which 
the spirit of this reciprocal appeal has united many fami- 
lies in Germany, Switzerland, and North America. 

As now this leaflet * is first of all intended to illustrate 
and introduce this institution, it begins immediately with 
presenting the 

FOUKDATIOK OF THE WhOLE. 

The development and formation of the whole future 
life of each being is contained in the beginning of its ex- 
istence. The untroubled realization and the undiminished 
efficiency of the life of each being depend wholly on the 

* The Sunday Leaflet, in which this essay first appeared. 



THE TWO VIEWS. 7 

comprehension and fostering, on the recognition and firm 
carrying out of this beginning. 

Man, as a child, resembles the flower on the plant, 
the blossom on the tree ; as these are in relation to the 
tree, so is the child in relation to humanity — a young 
bud, a fresh blossom ; and as such, it bears, includes, 
and proclaims the ceaseless reappearance of new human 
life. 

As the flower bud of the tree — connected with twig, 
branch, and trunk, with the whole ramification of root 
and crown, and, through this double ramification, with 
earth and heaven — stands in united coherence and recip- 
rocal exchange with the whole universe for the develop- 
ment and vivification of its being, so stands man also, in 
all-sided developing life-exchange with nature, with hu- 
manity, and with all spiritual efforts and influences — with 
the universal life. 

The blissful development of the human being which 
leads to perfection and completion, and the fitting him 
for the attainment of his destiny, and thus for the attain- 
ment by effort of the genuine joy and true peace of life, 
depend alone on the correct comprehension of man, even 
as a child, in respect to his nature as well as to his rela- 
tions, and on the corresponding treatment of man in ac- 
cordance with this nature and these relations. 

But man is a created being, and, as such, is at the same 
time a part and a whole (therefore, a part-whole *), for, on 
the one side, he is, as a creation, a part of the universe ; 
but, on the other side, he is also a whole, since — just be- 
cause he is a creature— the nature of his Creator (a living 

* Gliedganzes in Frobel's meaning signifies that man is a whole 
or self -determining being and at the same time a member of a social 
whole. — Ed. 



8 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

and creating nature full of life, and testifying to life, 
therefore in itself single) lives in him. 

This original and fundamental nature of man, as be- 
ing life in itself and therefore again giving life, makes 
itself known in man's impulse to creative formation. This 
fundamental nature makes itself known even in the child 
by the instinct for observing, analyzing, and again unit- 
ing — that is, by the instinct for formative and creative ac- 
tivity. Indeed, the fostering of this instinct in the child 
makes manifest the life of man, at the same time wholly 
satisfying the demands of that life. 

Man, as a child, appears to be conditioned and medi- 
ated by father and mother. 

Father, mother, and child form a triune life-whole — a 
family. The child creates the family and the family-life 
by its advent ; and, on the other hand, man's continuous 
presence on earth is indispensably linked with the family. 
The family and child reciprocally condition each other ; 
neither exists without the other ; they form in themselves 
an inseparable unit. 

As in his original advent in the universe (on the 
earth), so also in the family man again makes his appear- 
ance as a true part- whole, since he is a whole in himself, 
and also, at the same tim«, a necessary member of the 
family life-whole. 

Ohly as a member of the family will it be possible for 
man to become a symmetrical, real, whole man ; indeed, 
the family as a whole is a real, whole, human existence, 
and the family life as a whole is real, complete, human 
life. 

As now the family is the fundamental condition of the 
production of man and the mediator of his existence, so 
also man as a child attains fully the development of his 



THE TWO VIEWS. 9 

instinct for creative self-activity only when connected with 
and conditioned by the family ; then only is it possible for 
him to live in complete accordance with this instinct. 

All genuine human education and true human train- 
ing, and so also this endeavor of ours, are linked with the 
quiet fostering in the family of this instinct for activity, 
with the thoughtful development of the child for the sat- 
isfaction of this instinct, and with the fitting of the child 
to be active in conformity with it. 

It is the aim of our endeavor to make it possible for 
man freely and spontaneously to develop, to educate him- 
self from his first advent on earth, as a whole human 
being, as a whole in himself, and in harmony and union 
with the life-whole — to make it possible for him to inform 
and instruct himself, to recognize himself thus as a defi- 
nite member of the all-life, and, as such, freely and spon- 
taneously to make himself known — freely and spontane- 
ously to live. 

Moreover, the first and fundamental appearance of 
love — of the love of parents and child, the family-love — is 
found now in the family-life ; indeed, the family is love 
itself become personal. The parental love manifests itself 
in its whole nature just in and by means of the nour- 
ishing and developing of the child's impulse to creative 
activity, and in the supplying of the means for this devel- 
opment. The fostering of this impulse arouses and 
strengthens the love of brothers and sisters. This foster- 
ing of the impulse to creative activity is thus a compre- 
hensive expression of the true love of parents and child, of 
the genuine family-love, and so reveals, and at the same 
time wholly satisfies, all love and the nature of love. 

Considering man as a created being, it is also quite in- 
dispensable to regard and treat him, even in childhood as 
4. 



10 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

well as through his whole life, as a creative being, and to 
train and prepare him so that, while himself creating, he 
may, even from his earliest years, find and recognize the 
Creator, the creation, and the created, and may thus find 
and recognize himself in this threefold relation and con- 
nection according to the measure of his increasing ca- 
pacity. So trained, he will be enabled to understand and 
comprehend, and thus to attain to that which is man's 
calling and destiny as an earthly being — namely, to recog- 
nize God in the creation and in the creature, and there- 
fore in man ; to recognize himself in himself and in man- 
kind ; and thus each in the others, and the others in each 
individual: to promote this recognition, to represent it 
and to make it representable, to perceive it and to make 
it perceptible. 

But to see, to recognize, and to perceive, require and 
presuppose light and almost are light. Eecognition there- 
fore develops light in and around the human being, from 
the satisfying fostering of his impulse to creative and 
observant activity. The destiny and calling of man (to 
be light and to move in light), as well as the possibility 
for him by the fostering of the impulse to creative activity 
to fulfill the above-mentioned destiny, is thus shown to us. 

As we now see man, even from his first appearance 
upon the earth and his first entrance into the family, 
move in a threefold way, which is yet single in itself 
(therefore a triune way), in and by means of life, in and 
by means of love, in light and by means of light — in his 
seeing, perceiving, recognizing, and remembering-^we also 
see that the careful fostering of his impulse to creative 
activity completely corresponds to and satisfies this triune 
life of man. But this triune way in which man moves 
is, above all comparison, important to the human be- 



THE TWO VIEWS. H 

ing ; for God shows himself in Nature, in the uni- 
verse, as life ; God reveals himself in humanity as love 
(and in love) ; and God manifests himself in wisdom (in 
the spirit) as light and in light. So God is the life, the 
love, and the light ; and in such a triune way he appears 
as the Creator and in the creature. 

In life, love, and light, and as life, love, and light 
therefore, the heing and nature of the child, of the man, 
are made known as existing, are revealed as having been 
realized and as still realizing. 

By life, the child appears predominantly connected 
with Nature, with the all; by love, he appears pre-emi- 
nently united with humanity ; and by light, he appears to 
be one with wisdom, with God. 

Man as a created being is thus in his first period of life 
on earth to be regarded, considered, and fostered in the all- 
sidedness of his relations as a threefold child, as it were ; 
or, as a child in three separate relations which are united 
in themselves — as a child of Nature, as a human child, 
and as a child of God ; that is, first, according to his com- 
mon, earthly, and natural conditions and connections, ac- 
cording to his life ; then, according to his special human 
existence, to his love; finally, according to his original 
spiritual nature, his anticipations and perceptions, his re- 
membrance, recognitions, and intentions, his knowledge 
and his wisdom. In his first relation (as a child of Na- 
ture) man is to be considered as a being bound, chained, 
unconscious, subject to impulses, sentient, living only cor- 
poreally ; in the latter relation, as a child of God, as a free 
being not only fitted for consciousness, destined to con- 
sciousness, but already in anticipation conscious of his 
nature, therefore following by his own will a high and 
genuine unity of life as a thoughtful, perceptive, intuitive. 



12 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

spiritual, knowing, and wise being ; and in tlie intermedi- 
ate relation (as a child of humanity) as a being struggling 
from bondage and chains toward freedom ; from single- 
ness toward unity, toward consciousness ; from separation 
toward union, toward peace ; an aspiring being devoted 
constantly to the above-named efforts ; and, in the antici- 
pation of finding unity, a joyously living being. 

To become clearly conscious of all the conditions and 
relations in which and by means of which man exists, and 
to faithfully live up to the requirements of these condi- 
tions and relations, make man (as a presence) first become 
man in consciousness and action; and make it possible 
for him to become a whole, complete human being by 
leading him to an equally careful and joyous fulfillment of 
each of his duties, and by making it possible for him to 
fulfill the totality of the duties of man in harmony. 

Only if the child, the human being, be -comprehended 
and treated through the whole fostering of the impulse of 
his life (his impulse to creative activity), in the triuuity of 
his nature, as living, loving, and perceiving, in the unity 
of his life, in the all-sidedness of his circumstances and re- 
lations ; if he be comprehended and treated as an earthly 
being in accordance with what he is, what he has, and what 
he will become ; only if he comprehends the outer world 
around him in like triunity (and thus recognizes the revela- 
tion of the divine in like triunity) in its unity, in each indi- 
vidual, and in the sum of all unities — only thus can man 
develop himself as that which he is, as the manifold and 
articulated (but in himself single) whole, and, at the same 
time, a member of the great whole — of all life ; only thus 
can he develop himself in conformity with his destiny, 
and be faithful to his vocation. He will thus form an 
entirety and a unity of life from and around himself, and, 



THE TWO VIEWS. 13 

in and by means of his creative life, God, Nature, and hu- 
manity will reveal themselves in unity and singleness. 
Man himself will make them known as they reveal them- 
selves to him in and for the all-sided union, the genuine 
peace, and the true joy of life. 

So, founded on the nature of man and on his instinct 
for formation and activity, and connected with the foster- 
ing of this impulse, the aim of this institution is to be a 
living whole, or, as it were, a tree in itself, as well as to 
provide means of employment, and consequently of cul- 
ture and instruction, founded on the relations of man to 
Nature and life ; means, which when applied in a lively 
manner to the child from the first stage of its spiritual 
awakening and of its use of limbs and senses, and con- 
stantly advancing with the growth of its powers, develop 
it on all sides, and therefore in union with itself, with Na- 
ture, and with the laws of life. Thus, this institution aims 
to establish means of employment and so of cultivation and 
teaching, which, as they show the objects of cultivation 
and instruction in union with each other, at the same 
time represent them in harmony and accord with the 
development of Nature and of man, and satisfy the re- 
quirements of both. 

The detailed plan of this institution will be shown by 
the following. 



II. 

PLAN OF AI^ INSTITUTIOK TOE FOSTERING THE IMPULSE 
TO CREATIVE ACTIVITY. 

Preface. — Because all life rests in one unity, and be- 
cause all existing life wells forth from this unity, he who 
will work benevolently and fruitfully, blissfully and con- 
stantly, progressively developing to increasing perfection, 
must try to act and to live in inner united coherence with 
the development of Nature and man, with the stage of 
cultivation of the understanding and of the use of the 
reason now attained, thus in full accord with the present 
stage of development of Nature and humanity (that is, of 
the whole universe), as well as in pure harmony with the 
inner demands and the stage of development of the indi- 
vidual or whole. 

Thus, he who desires to work helpfully and fruitfully, 
constantly and beneficially, for the welfare and found- 
ing of the family, must,. in harmony with the stage of 
development of his family and its members, connect his 
efforts with a comprehensive and unital, a simple and yet 
general human fundamental idea, at least with such a 
general perception of life ; or, rather, he must make such 
a perception his starting point. He who does not do this, 
just in proportion as he does not do so builds on quick- 
sand. 

Now such ideas, which must lie at the foundation of 



PLAN OF AN INSTITUTION. 15 

the human influence, especially of the educating influ- 
ence as a human one, have been already definitely and 
clearly expressed above ; it will wholly suffice for the pres- 
ent aim — the demonstration of the plan of the before- 
mentioned institution — to deduce the necessity and nature 
of the institution in view from a principle derived from 
experience, a principle which rests in and is explained by 
one of the highest, final, fundamental ideas, and whose 
innermost coherence with the highest thought of life comes 
out definitely enough for this aim. 

This principle derived from experience is : 

The present effort of mankind in harmony with the 
phenomena in Nature and the time, with the collective 
all-life, is an endeavor after freer self -development, after 
freer self -formation, and freer determining of one's own 
destiny. In fact, the more or less conscious aim of those 
who make this effort to find out the unity of the individ- 
ual and the manifold, the inner coherence of the separate, 
the accord of the opposite, the abiding with the changing, 
the true beiug behind the phenomenal, and the spirit in 
the form. 

Therefore, the more or less clear aim of the individual 
is to attain clearness about himself and about life in its 
unity, its foundation, as well as in its thousand ramifica- 
tions and in its relations to completeness and unity of 
life, to comprehension and right use of life, according to 
recognition and insight, as well as to representation and 
accomplishment; and all this by voluntary choice, by 
spontaneous and personal activity, and in accord with all. 

This portrays the present degree of development of 
mankind in character. Therefore, if we would not anni- 
hilate our children spiritually and bodily, if we would not 
cripple their present childish life, the youthful life next 



16 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

to be attained by tbem, their future life as citizens, their 
future domestic life, and their whole life as members of 
humanity, we must in the education and training of our 
children be faithful to the requirements of their individual 
nature, as well as in accord and coherence with the present 
stage of human development, which is conditioned by and 
proceeds from the development of the whole world, the 
collective all-life. 

That this highest aim of life may be attained, the 
present time makes upon education and the educator, 
parents and nurses, the following wholly indispensable 
requirement — to comprehend the earliest activity, the 
first action of the child, the impulse to formation and to 
spontaneous and personal activity (the first manifestations 
of which appear at an early age), to encourage the earliest 
employment of children at home, the impulse to self -cul- 
ture and self-instruction through self-shaping, self-obser- 
vation, and self-testing. 

Every one who observes with any attention even the 
first stage of child-life is met therein (frequently as well 
as definitely) by the requirement of fostering the child's 
impulse to activity, but he is also met by the perception 
of how little is done to satisfy the requirement generally, 
but especially how little is done to satisfy it in a judicious 
way — that is, in accord with the nature of man. 

Very many loyal parents and members of the family, 
very many anxious fathers and grandfathers, loving moth- 
ers and grandmothers, cousins and uncles, fostering elder 
brothers and sisters, and sympathizing family friends and 
friends of the children, are indeed inclined carefully and 
suitably to nourish and foster the impulse of childhood 
and youth to acquire information spontaneously by self- 
activity, but, on the one hand, only too often the requisite, 



PLAN OF AN INSTITUTION. 17 

wholly suitable means, and, indeed, the needed capacity 
and dexterity, knowledge, and training are lacking ; but 
on the other hand, also, the child's employments as 
well as the means and objects of such employment (the 
plays and the playthings) are too little — indeed, not at 
all — recognized in their true, deep significance, are too 
little comprehended in their general human interest and 
spirit, which, just because they are general and human, 
continue to cultivate the man already grown up and rich 
in knowledge, and are too little presented in their con- 
nection with life in general. The consequence of this is, 
that these means of play offer too little — indeed, nothing 
at all — to the adult for the nourishment and continued de- 
velopment of his or her own life ; hence, aside from the 
duty of older people to children, it seems to the adult a 
waste of time to employ himself or herself with fostering 
the child's impulse to activity by means of and in its 
plays. 

Now the aim of this institution is to make the needs 
and requirements of the child- world — needs and require- 
ments to which we have just referred — correspond to the 
present stage of development of humanity, and to pro- 
vide for parents and adults who find themselves in the 
just-mentioned position in regard to the fostering of the 
children intrusted to them, appropriate plays and means 
of employment, and consequently of instruction and cul- 
tivation — of education in general — and, above all, means 
adapted to the mind, spirit, and life of the child ; there- 
fore to be able to prove the equally necessary, natural, 
and human reciprocal call of the families, " Come, let 
us live with our children," to be as general as it is rich 
in blessing. Hence the plan of this institution is as 
follows : 



18 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

I. To provide plays and means of employment (con- 
sequently of culture) which satisfy the needs alike of 
parents and child, of age and youth, of educator and pu- 
pil ; which therefore nourish and strengthen, develop and 
form the life of the children, as well as promote the life 
of the parents and adults — or at least afford them spiritual 
and intellectual nourishment while they employ them- 
selves in playing with the children — indeed, we might say 
even while they, as experienced and intelligent parents, 
and observant and clear-sighted older people, merely ob- 
serve the plays and spontaneous employment of these 
children in a thoughtful manner — that is, with spiritual 
and intellectual sympathy. 

The spirit and character of these means of employ- 
ment, and so of instruction, are therefore that — 

1. They proceed from unity, and develop in all mani- 
foldness from unity in accordance with the laws of life. 
They begin with the simplest, and, at each particular 
stage, again begin with that which is relatively the sim- 
plest; but afterward advance in reciprocally beneficial 
relation to one another, and according to the necessary 
laws contained in the nature of the things themselves, 
from the simplest to the most complex, from that which 
is as yet undeveloped to that which is fully grown, and 
so on in accord with natural and spiritual development 
— in general, with the development of life. 

2. The aim of each of the means of employment, and 
likewise of education, is purely human instruction and cul- 
tivation — that is, such as is in itself single as well as unify- 
ing — so that through the right, judicious, and spirited use 
of each (even of the smallest) of these means the human 



PLAN OF AN INSTITUTION. 19 

being both in childhood and in maturity will be advanced, 
educated, and formed as an individual, and also compre- 
hended and developed as a member of humanity — there- 
fore as a member of his family, of his nation, and of hu- 
manity, and also as a member of Nature and of the uni- 
verse — of the one-life and of the all-life. 

3. The totality of the plays and means of employment, 
which are at the same time means of formation of charac- 
ter and of education, as it proceeds from a single, funda- 
mental principle of culture observable in Nature, authen- 
ticated by history, and proving itself to be purely human, 
forms a stable, coherent whole, all the parts of which re- 
ciprocally explain and mutually benefit one another. This 
whole, therefore, resembles a tree with its many branches. 

4. Each individual thing which is attained, however 
small and simple, or however large and complex it may be, 
is therefore always a self-contained whole, and so resem- 
bles a bud, or a kernel of corn, from which manifold new 
developments can be called forth, which again converge 
into a higher unity. Wherefore he who judiciously, ener- 
getically, and carefully uses for his little charge what is 
attained, is himself manifoldly developed as well as har- 
moniously cultivated. 

5. These means of employment will, in the course of 
their presentation, embrace the whole province of general 
and fundamental instruction of the faculties of perception. 
They also will embrace the groundwork of all future ex- 
tended instruction as a whole, and are founded on the 
nature of man as an existent, living, and perceptive being. 
But, as the child at first feels and finds himself in space, and 
finds others occupying the space around him, these means 
of employment proceed from space, from the observation 
of space and from the knowledge which comes from that 



20 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

observation, going on by means of the development and 
training of the limbs and senses of the human being, and 
by means of language to comprehend Nature in its most 
essential directions; so that finally man, who at first 
could find himself only in space and by means of space, 
may now learn to find himself as an existent, living, feel- 
ing and thinking, understanding and intelligent, percep- 
tive and rational being, to retain the perception of him- 
self as such a being, and, as such, to strive to live. 

6. It is quite essential to the spirit and character of 
these means of fostering independent action in the child 
that they should lead to the thoughtful observation of 
Nature and of life in all its parts and phenomena ; but it 
is also essential that they should lead to the anticipation 
and recognition, and finally to the comprehension of the 
inner coherence of material things, and of the phenomena 
of life, and also of the oneness of the material and spiritual 
worlds, and the increasing similarity of their laws. 

7. Thinking and discriminating parents will there- 
fore find these plays and this playing of use and benefit 
in their business or calling, whether it be an inner one de- 
voted to knowledge or an outward one devoted to work, 
the results of which can be seen, as even the occupying of 
one's self therewith in the circle of the children is invig- 
orating and beneficial, elevating and purifying, in its retro- 
active effect on the life of the adult. 

8. Each play, each means of employment, and each 
means of self -teaching will be accompanied by sufficing 
instructions which embrace the subject on all sides. These 
instructions will contain — 

a. Description of the nature of play and its higher 
references to man and to life. 

b. Statements of the relation of each individual play 



PLAN OF AN INSTITUTION. 21 

and means of employment to the totality, so that with 
each is specified what, in general, precedes it, what accom- 
panies it, and what follows it ; therefore, on what it is 
founded, and of what it is itself the foundation. 

c. A direction sufficient to enable parents and nurses 
•and teachers to use the play, the thing being vivified by 
the word, the word illustrated by drawings, and these 
again explained by the word and the thing itself. 

d. These instructions will especially render prominent 
the laws of mental growth proceeding from and leading 
to the use of play and to its different representations ; and 

e. Will especially state the firmly, beautifully, and 
clearly formed truths of Nature and life obviously con- 
tained therein, for the purpose of self-discovery, self- 
observation, and further self-development, in order to 
unite man more and more in and with himself, as well as 
with Nature and life, with the unity and fount of life. 

II. In the gradual accomplishment of the whole course, 
such means of self-cultivation and self-instruction are to 
be provided as satisfy the needs and requirements of the 
present stage of human development, and also suffice for 
adults who wish to continue their own cultivation in ac- 
cordance therewith. Here will be presented, in conform- 
ity with each line of culture and instruction, comprehen- 
sive summaries of all parts which belong together, and 
of the relatively higher unities and the highest unity of 
these parts. The purpose of these summaries is that the 
human being — as all unity is, properly speaking, invisible, 
and only perceptible in the innermost — may be led from 
the visible and external to the invisible and internal, from 
the appearance to the true being, aud, thus led into him- 
self, may also be led to God ; thus man may be clearly 
shown to man in his nature, in his unfolding, and in his re- 



22 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

lation to totality and to unity — to Nature and to God — and 
so may come to man, in all the relations of life, unity and 
clearness, consciousness and penetration in cultivation, as 
well as in life and in insight, and therefore joyousness, 
peace, and freedom. 

Since we are now deeply convinced that man, even 
though only unconsciously faithful to his nature and to 
the higher and highest demands of humanity of which he 
is a member, seeks to learn to comprehend and present 
the outer as well as the inner coherence of life in the 
higher and highest living unity — in spite of the actual 
and undeniably apparent disjointedness in life, and the 
generally prevailing seeking merely for that which is di- 
rectly and immediately useful in the striving for informa- 
tion — we hope by means of this institution to answer to a 
need in accordance with the spirit of the age, and to pro- 
vide such an education of childhood as will correspond to 
the deepest and most secret (even unknown to themselves) 
wishes and yearnings of parents and adults, as fosterers of 
children. 

The course of plays and means of employment is to 
begin with that which is simplest and near ; for only that 
which proceeds from the simplest, smallest, and near can 
develop from and explain by itself the manifold, great, 
and distant — can show the spirit of unity ; and it is only 
the single spirit which creates the single life. 

And thus we show here, for the fostering of the im- 
pulse to activity and of the creative nature of the child, 
first of all, the details of a whole series of boxes, fc-r the 
play and for the occupation of children in methodica and 
coherent sequences, stages, and gifts, accompanied by il- 
lustrative drawings and text. 



III. 

CHILD-LIPE. THE FIKST ACTIOK OF THE CHILD. 

As the newborn child, like a ripe kernel of seed corn 
dropped from the mother plant, has life in itself, and, 
also like the kernel, develops life from itself in progres- 
sive but increasingly spiritual coherence with the common 
life-whole by its own spontaneous action, so activity and 
action are also the first phenomena of awakening child- 
life. This activity and this action are, indeed, the actual 
expression of the internal and innermost through and by 
the outward, therefore inward activity devoted to observ- 
ing and working with the external, to overcoming out- 
ward hindrances merely as such, and to penetrating the 
external. Hence early in the life of the child appears an 
activity in harmony with feeling and perception, indicat- 
ing a slumbering apprehension and comprehension of it- 
self by the child as well as an already germinating indi- 
vidual capacity. 

The nature of man as a being destined to become, 
and in future to be, conscious of personality, although at 
first apparent only in slight outlines, yet already stamped 
with sufficient distinctness to be observed and compre- 
hended — lies in the quite peculiar character of childish 
activity even when the so-called three months' slumber 
has just ended ; in the totality of the first childish action 
(especially after this time), a totality which can not be 



24 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

more fittingly designated than by the expression " to 
busy one's self " ; in the impulse of the child to employ 
itself, an impulse awakening at the same time with the 
inner life of the child — that is, in the impulse (in accord 
with feeling and perception) to be active for the increas- 
ing development of its own life ; and, as we remarked in 
the beginning, man, even from babyhood, in his triune re- 
lation to Nature, to humanity, and to God, finds his 
needs completely satisfied by the correct comprehension 
and by the right fostering of his impulse to busy himself, 
by the care and oversight of childish occupations. 

We are repeatedly impressed with the conviction that 
everything which is to be done for the true human devel- 
opment of the child, and all efforts which are to be made 
for such an education as will satisfy the needs of all sides 
of its being, must be connected with, and proceed from, 
the fostering of the impulse to employment, and the over- 
sight of the first employment of the child. For the im- 
pulse to employment corresponds to the triune activity of 
man in doing, experiencing, and thinking. This impulse 
corresponds fully to his nature, which is to have power to 
perceive, to comprehend, to obtain self-knowledge, to be- 
come more and more conscious of his own personality, and 
to become spontaneous. Therefore the whole human be- 
ing, all humanity in the child, and life itself, is compre- 
hended by means of the impulse to employment. 

Notwithstanding the existence of the impulse to em- 
ployment which manifests itself early in the life of the 
human being (though but the slightest traces of it are at 
first perceptible), it has been commonly stated, but from a 
quite incorrect point of view, that the child is so helpless 
when born, and develops to self-dependence so slowly, as 
to require the mother's fostering and help for a long 



CHILD^LIFE. 25 

time ; it has even been said that man is in this respect be* 
hind and below the animals. Only, as we shall yet more 
often see in the future, just exactly that with which hu- 
man nature is charged as a necessary consequence of the 
existence of human beings upon earth, or which is at 
least alleged as a speaking evidence of the great imper- 
fection of man, constitutes his evident superiority over 
the other creatures on earth, is a sign of his dignity, and 
an assertion that man is created in the image of God, so 
that he may recognize and demonstrate his likeness to 
God — that is, that He has appeared upon earth, and under 
earthly limitations for that purpose. For we recognize 
through this helplessness that man is destined to free, self- 
active progress, and is called to higher and higher stages 
of consciousness of self. 

The animal, whose life-impulses, powers, and qualities, 
whose instincts, as they are called, are at birth so definite 
and strong that it, on the contrary, does not fail, and in- 
deed in a free natural condition can not fail, to overcome 
by those instincts every obstacle in each department of its 
life, the animal, just on account of its strong instincts, 
can not arrive at the knowledge of its powers, its qualities, 
its nature, its unity, and therefore can not arrive at a 
recognition of its manifold ness, nor, above all, at the an- 
ticipation and recognition of unity as such ; still less can 
it give to itself an account thereof, for it lacks all points 
of comparison. It lacks the points of comparison which 
(as is the case with man) proceed from the fact that even 
the weakest manifestations of power meet in their work- 
ings with obstructions which even increase as the power 
itself increases, and will thus with difficulty be overcome, 
or prevailed over and annihilated. 

It is, as already stated, quite different with the life of 
5 



26 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

man, in which at first scarce anything can be easily ac- 
complished without extraneous help, and consequently 
nothing without hindrance, but especially nothing 
through the superiority of power from within (such, for 
example, as the just-hatched duckling shows on the 
water) ; thus everything external is to be overcome, even 
though there be a preponderance of helplessness, through 
the inner enhancing and outward strengthening and in- 
creasing of power by the free activity of the will. This 
inner self-enhancing of power, proceeding from spontane- 
ity of the will and outward strengthening and increasing 
of this power, effected by this inner self -enhancing, con- 
stitute the superiority of man over the animal, and this so 
much the more as man is born in the most extreme condi- 
tion of helplessness. 

The helplessness of the newborn human being in re- 
spect to everything external is the opposite of his future 
ability for self -helpfulness (an ability which is in unison 
with the unity and the wholeness of life) through the en- 
hancement of his will power and consequently his power 
of action. As now outward helplessness is the opposite of 
possible enhancement of inward power, so the latter is to 
be aroused and become recognized and strengthened by 
the former. As, in general, everything is and will be best 
recognized by means of that which is its opposite, there- 
fore helplessness is to be overcome by the enhancement of 
power ; for it is just the conquering, or rather the prevail- 
ing over and so annihilating the outward hindrance of 
life by one's own will power and one's own enhanced 
power of action, which preserves to man peace, joy, and 
freedom in his own consciousness, and thus elevates him 
to that likeness to God for which he is destined. Help- 
lessness and personal will (one's own will), therefore, soon 



CHILD-LIFE. 2Y 

become the two liinges, the opposite turning points (poles) 
of the child's life, of which the middle point and point of 
union, and thus the balance point, is independent activity 
and free activity, self-occupation and self-employment. 
Herein lies for the educator and fosterer of the human 
being the key to the inner and outer life of man in child- 
hood and youth, and to the phenomena of this inner and 
outer life, often as difficult to explain as to treat and to 
adjust. By means of this key there is opened to the edu- 
cator an unobstructed view of the lights and shadows of 
child-life and of its phenomena, which so often seem to 
contradict one another. From the impulse to activity and 
from spontaneous employment of one's self, or rather from 
the three (helplessness, one's own will, and employment 
of one's self), soon proceed habitude and custom (often 
indolence and a tendency to seek one's own ease). This 
fact is as remarkable and worthy of notice as it is easily 
recognizable, as each phenomenon — which is especially to 
be considered in the life of children and in the correct es- 
timation of that life — calls forth its opposite. One will- 
ingly makes one's self at home where one can act freely ; 
and, on the other hand, one can act freely where one has 
made one's self at home. 

It is therefore just as important for the child that 
those who have it in charge should notice its customs, its 
habits, and to what it accustoms itself, especially in re- 
spect to cause and effect, as that they should notice and 
foster its impulse to activity. Indeed, one can see clearly 
that just this trait of the child of accustoming and inur- 
ing itself to something, and of growing together with 
its surroundings and becoming one with them, proves 
the early existence of the impulse to activity and employ- 
ment even when the child outwardly appears inactive 



28 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

(passive) ; since the child accommodates itself to out- 
ward surroundings, relations, and requirements, in order 
thus to obtain more space for the play of its inner ac- 
tivity. 

As now habit in the child proceeds from spontaneous 
and independent activity, so also imitation springs from 
it ; and it is no less important for the fostering of child- 
hood and child-life and for observing it to keep this origin 
of imitation in view than to keep in view the phenomena 
of habitude, custom, and independent activity. For we 
see the whole inner spiritual life of the child manifest the 
threefold phenomenon, spontaneous activity, habit, and 
imitation, as a triune phenomenon. These three phases 
are intimately united early in the life of the child, and 
give us the most important discoveries concerning child- 
life in respect to foundation and result, and the surest in- 
dices for the early correct treatment of the child. None 
of these phenomena should therefore be excluded from 
a comprehensive study of children, such as would sat- 
isfy the nature of the human being, for all three are alike 
deeply grounded in human nature in respect to their 
source.* The three activities taken together also disclose 
the following aims, which wholly correspond to the nature 
of the child as a human being : These aims are, to keep 
itself such as it feels and finds itself — a being which is in- 
dependent and yet supported by the whole ; to strengthen, 
exercise, and develop its limbs and senses, and to make 
them free, thus within itself and by its own efforts to at- 
tain more and more independence and personality, and to 

* We shall later return to this subject on account of its impor- 
tance, and will then treat it more fully and in more extended con- 
nections ; but this limited intimation must here suffice for the gen- 
eral foundation of what follows. 



CHILD-LIFE. 29 

reveal itself in its personality; j&nally, to obtain knowl- 
edge of the independence and personality — that is, of the 
independent existence — of that which surrounds it, and 
to convince itself of that existence. 

This joint aim of life, the joint activity proceeding 
from it and the unity of life at the foundation of both, 
are expressed by the child's first quiet fixing of its eyes. 
Hence the child's first clear gaze so delights and uplifts 
those who witness it, for the child thereby proclaims self- 
dependence and personality in itself and his ability to 
maintain these qualities; it also acknowledges the self- 
dependence and personality of those around it and an- 
ticipates the future (though as yet deeply slumbering) 
unity of life ; it therefore announces the elevation of man 
above unconscious nature, and fully expresses his dignity, 
his humanity. 

Therefore, the first voluntary employments of the 
child, if its bodily needs are satisfied and it feels well and 
strong, are observation of its surroundings, spontaneous 
reception of the outer world, and play, which is independ- 
ent outward expression of inward action and life. This 
dual expression, taking in and carrying out in life, is 
necessarily grounded in the nature of the child as well as 
of the human being in general, since its first earthly des- 
tiny is to attain by critical reception of the outer world 
into itself, by manifold inward impressions and through 
outward realization of its inner world, and by critical com- 
parison of both, to the recognition of their unity, to the 
recognition of life as such, and to faithful living in ac- 
cordance with the requirements of life. 

Since we now see man at an early age comprehend his 
destiny by means of these three activities, so the collect- 
ive phenomena of his whole future life find their solution 



30 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

in these activities, which form, as it were, the triune point 
of reference and vital point thereof. 

That he may fulfill and attain his destiny, man is en- 
dowed on the one hand with senses, the organs by which he 
can make the external internal ; on the other hand with 
bodily strength and limbs, by which he can represent his in- 
ner nature outwardly, therefore always by material means ; 
finally, that he may comprehend spiritual unity, the nature 
of man appears as an anticipating and individual soul, be- 
cause this nature is in itself a perceptive and uniting spirit. 

It is therefore evident how important the training of 
body and senses is for man even in the early stages of his 
existence ; and, from the more spiritual, comparing, and 
uniting point of view, it is also evident how important the 
Mnd of observation of the outer world and its reception 
into the inner nature of man, and also the kind of the 
voluntary, playful occupations of the child, are for the 
method of experience as to its conclusions and reasons, 
for the spirit of the knowledge and insight which it draws 
therefrom, and so for the expression of its nature, which 
makes itself known thereby. 

For, as the life of man in all the necessary variety of its 
phenomena is in itself a complete unity, one can recognize 
and consider even in the first baby life, though only in 
their slightest traces and most delicate germs, all the spir- 
itual activities which in later life become predominant. 

Beloved parents and nurses, do not say. How could 
the last-named spiritual tendencies be contained in the 
life of the little child, which appears as yet so unconscious 
and helpless? If they were not contained in the little 
child they could not be developed at all from it ; but on 
the fact that they are contained therein is based the love 
for children of the greatest friend of children, his judg- 



CHILD-LIFE. 31 

ment concerning them, his placing them on the same 
plane with himself, and his demands for them. Were 
these directions and references not contained in the child's 
nature, the quickly discerning sense of the mother would 
not treat the child from the first moment of its existence 
as an understanding, perceptive, and capable being, and 
so these directions and references could never become the 
fruit of its life ; for where there is not the germ of some- 
thing, that something can never be called forth and ap- 
pear. 

The outermost poM and innermost ground of all phe- 
nomena of the earliest life and activity of the child is 
this : the child must hring into exercise the dim antici- 
pation of conscious life in itself as well as of life around 
it ; and consequently 7nust exercise power, test and thus 
compare poiuer, exercise independence, and test and thus 
compare the degree of independence. 

Therefore, as soon as the life of the child, its power of 
spontaneous and voluntary action and its use of limbs 
and senses are aroused ; when it can freely move its little 
arms and hands, when it can perceive and distinguish 
tones, and can turn its attention and its gaze in the direc- 
tion from which these tones come ; let us give to the child 
for its spontaneous and voluntary action an object which 
expresses stability and yet movability, which in this stabil- 
ity and movability can be grasped and handled by the 
child ; in which, as in its own mind, the unity of all mani- 
f oldness is contained ; which it perceives in its new exist- 
ence, in which, therefore, though as yet quite uncon- 
sciously, it can see its own self-dependent, stable, and yet 
movable life, as it were, in a mirror, as well as test and 
exercise such life by such an object. And this plaything 
is the sphere, or rather the lall. 



IV. 

THE ball; the FIEST PLAYTHING OF CHILDHOOD. 
(See Plate 1.) 

EvEiq- the word ball, in our significant language, is full 
of expression and meaning, pointing out that the ball is, 
as it were, an image of the all {der B-all ist ein Bild des 
All) ; but the ball itself has such an extraordinary charm, 
such a constant attraction for early childhood, as well as 
for later youth, that it is beyond comparison the first as 
well as the most important plaything of childhood espe- 
cially. The child loyal to its human nature — at whatever 
incomplete and dim stage of observation it may be — per- 
ceives in the ball the general expression of each object as 
well as of itself (the child) as a self-dependent whole 
and unity. It is above all important for the child, 
as a human being destined to become and in the future to 
be conscious, to perceive that which is inclosed in itself, in- 
deed complete (vollendeten), and so, as it were, the coun- 
terpart of hiniself and his opposite ; for man seeks even 
as a child to develop himself as well as everything in Na- 
ture by means of that which is its opposite yet resembles 
it ; and so the child likes to employ himself with the ball, 
even early in life, in order to cultivate and fashion him- 
self, though unconsciously, through and by it, as that 
which is his opposite and yet resembles him. Indeed, the 
ball in the totality of its properties, as will be clearly 



THE BALL. 33 

shown in the course of our considerations, is in manifold 
respects as instructive a type for the child, as the All (the 
universe), with its phenomena, is for the adult. 

There is yet another thing which gives to the ball not 
only a great charm for the children but likewise deep 
significance as a plaything, and so as a means of educa- 
tion ; this is, that the child, feeling himself a whole, early 
seeks and must seek in conformity with his human nature 
and his destiny, even at the stage of unconsciousness, al- 
ways to contemplate, to grasp, and to possess a whole, but 
never merely a part as such. He seeks to contemplate, to 
grasp, and to possess a whole in all things, and in each thing, 
or at least, by means of and with them. This can be 
abundantly proved in the history of the development of 
the individual human being as well as of whole nations, 
and of all humanity. Many phenomena in child-life, on 
the bright side of life as well as on the dark, can also be 
explained thereby. This whole for which the child seeks 
is also supplied to him by the ball. 

Only we further notice in the life of the child how 
he — like the man in the fairy story — would like to perceive 
all in all, and also to make all from each. The ball is well 
adapted to fulfill this desire also of the child, being (as a 
whole inclosed in itself) the image of all in general, and 
also the particular image of individual things ; as, for ex- 
ample, the apple, as well as all things which are spherical 
in form, and from which such manifoldness again devel- 
ops, such as seed grains and the like. The ball — or, what 
is the same, the sphere — is actually the foundation, the 
germ, as it were, of all other forms which can therefore 
logically be developed from it in conformity with fixed 
simple laws ; this fact will later be proved in the course 
of presenting the plays and the means of employrReut for 



34 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

children. Indeed, the sphere takes up immediately into 
itself all surrounding objects, since they are mirrored in it, 
as is justly said. Thus all which the child needs in the ex- 
pressions of his life and activity, in the earliest beginning 
as well as in the later course of his development, are af- 
forded by the ball ; for, as it is a whole in itself, it is, as it 
were, the representative, the general expression of each 
whole. The child can see each whole and himself in it, 
as he makes each whole or each object from it, can repeat- 
edly impress upon it his own image and thus stand face to 
face with himself. 

In fostering the development of the child special at- 
tention must be given to these expressions of his life and 
activity, as these expressions are the foundation and means 
of the recognition of individual oneness, of unity as such, 
and of the accord of all things to which man is destined. 
Attention should also be given to that which clearly fol- 
lows from the preceding, and which on account of its 
great importance must be brought forward here at the be- 
ginning of a play — namely, that the spirit in which a play 
is conceived and originated, as well as the spirit in which 
the plaything is treated and the play played, give to the 
play its significance and its worth, its efficient value to 
humanity. So also if the spirit by which Nature is cre- 
ated is comprehended by man, and if Nature is observed 
and treated in accordance with that comprehension, this 
spirit gives to Nature the significance which it has for 
man — a significance as true as it is deep and full of life, 
producing life as well as fostering and unfolding life. 

But now how is the ball to be considered and used, es- 
pecially for the first strengthening of the child as a whole, 
for the first exercise of his bodily powers, the development 
of the activity of his limbs and senses, as well as for the 



THE BALL. 35 

arousing and nourishing of his attention and of his free 
independent action ? 

This is wholly in accordance with the needs of the 
child and the nature of the ball. 

We see how the little child likes so much to seize and 
grasp everything, even its own thumb or its other hand or 
fist if it has nothing else. We also see — which is certainly 
worthy of earnest consideration — how each hand by itself 
is well adapted to inclose a ball, as are also both hands 
together. 

Therefore a ball is early given into the child's little 
hand, though at first only for grasping, for him to lay his 
little fingers round like rings, in order to comprehend its 
roundness and thus come to possess and hold it fast. 

Even this clasping will soon strengthen the muscles of 
the child's fingers, hand, and arm, and also develop hand 
and fingers so as to fit them first of all for voluntary 
handling of the ball, and later for the right handling of 
other things. Every one knows how much in the life of 
man, and even in the life of the child, depends on the 
proper grasping and the right handling of each thing in 
the actual as well as in the figurative sense. It is there- 
fore inexpressibly important for the whole future life of 
the child that he should early learn to actually handle 
even one extraneous object on all sides. 

This now requires that, as the child's use of limbs and 
senses increases, the ball may show itself to the child more 
as a thing separate from him ; for at first the ball seems to 
be, as it were, one with the hand of the child himself, and 
seems to grow together with it like his fist ; and this is 
well, as thus all future recognition of the child's surround- 
ings and of the outer world come to the child by means of 
the ball. 



36 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

As soon as the child is sufficiently developed to per- 
ceive the ball as a thing separate from himself, it will be 
easy for you, dear mother, and you, dear nurse, having 
previously fastened a string to the ball which you give 
into the child's little hand, to draw the ball gently by the 
string as if you wished to lift it out of the child's little 
hand. The child will hold the ball fast, the arm will rise 
as you lift the ball, and as you loosen the string the hand 
and arm will sink back from their own weight and through 
holding the ball fast; the feeling of the utterance of 
force, as well as the alternation of the movement, will 
soon delight the child ; and the use of the arm in this 
activity gives dexterity to the arm and strengthens the 
arm and hand. 

Now, dear mother, here is the beginning of your play 
and playing with your dear child through the mediation 
of the ball. From this, however, soon springs a quite 
new play, and thus also something new to the child, 
when, through a suitable drawing and lifting by the string, 
the ball escapes from the child's hand, and then quietly 
moves freely before him as an individual object. Through 
this play is developed in the child the new feeling, the 
new perception of the object as a something now clasped, 
grasped, and handled, and now a freely active, opposite 
something. 

One may say with deep conviction that even this sim- 
ple activity is inexpressibly important for the child, for 
which reason it is to be repeated as a play with the child 
as often as possible. What the little one has up to this 
time directly felt so often by the touch of the mother's 
breast — union and separation — it now perceives outwardly 
in an object which can be grasped and clasped, and which 
has actually been grasped and clasped. Thus the repeti- 



THE BALL. 37 

tion of this play confirms, strengthens, and clears up in 
the mind of the child a feeling and perception deeply 
grounded in and important to the whole life of man — the 
feeling and perception of oneness and individuality, and 
of disjunction and separateness ; also of present and past 
possession. 

It is exceedingly important for the child which is to 
be developed, as well as for the adults who are to develop 
him (therefore, first of all, for the father and mother), that 
they (the adults) should not only perceive but should also 
suitably foster the awakening individual power and indi- 
vidual activity, and the awakening spirit of their child in 
the traces and slightest expressions found in the almost 
imperceptible beginning, so that the development of these 
qualities and this spirit may not be carried on by acci- 
dental, arbitrary, and disconnected exercises. It is also 
important to observe the progressive development of the 
strength as well as of the activity by means of a measur- 
ing object, for which also the play with the ball is in mani- 
fold ways the most suitable means for parents and child. 

The idea of return or recurrence soon develops to the 
child's perception from the presence and absence ; that of 
reunion, from the singleness and separateness; that of 
future repossession, from present and past possession ; and 
so the ideas of being, having, and becoming are most im- 
portant to the whole life of man in their results, and are 
therefore the dim perceptions which first dawn on the 
child. 

From these perceptions there at once develop in the 
child's mind the three great perceptions of object, space, 
and time, which were at first one collective perception. 
From the perceptions of being, having, and becoming in 
respect to space and object, and in connection with them, 



38 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

there soon develop also the new perceptions of present, 
past, and future in respect to time. Indeed, these ninefold 
perceptions which open to the child the portals of a new 
objectiYC life, unfold themselves most clearly to the child 
by means of his constant play with the one single ball. 

As we now find that all the development of the child 
has its foundation in almost imperceptible attainments 
and perceptions, and as we see that its first evanescent 
perceptions (almost imperceptible in the beginning) are 
fixed, increased, and clarified by innumerable repetitions — 
that is, by change — so we also remark that when two dif- 
ferent and separate perceptions have been once received 
by the child, the third and the following perceptions 
necessarily proceed from them. 

It is highly important for the careful and faithful foster- 
ing of the child that the fosterer should devote her whole 
attention to this truth early in the life of the child. It is 
also important early to observe, to retain, and therefore to 
connect with the objective, the linking together of the ap- 
parent and of the existent life, though this linking together 
is at first but dimly perceptible. Eor the future sure at- 
tainment of the earthly destiny of man not only depends 
on the comprehension of the nature of being, having, and 
becoming, of object, space, and time, as well as on the 
correct comprehension and consideration of present, past, 
and future, but man himself will, even in early child- 
hood, in his triune nature and in conformity with the 
qualities combined in him in a manner corresponding to 
his nature, claim the attainment of this destiny. The 
more clearly you perceive this, parents and fosterers of 
childhood, and the more definitely you employ it in your 
fostering, the richer in results will be your education of 
children. 



THE BALL. 39 

True, the natural and unspoiled feeling of the mother 
often hits upon the right thing to do ; but this right thing 
is done by her too unconsciously and too unconnectedly, 
it is not repeated continuously enough ; still less is it con- 
stantly and progressively developed, and so it is not logi- 
cally enough built up. The mothers themselves, and yet 
more the nurses who undertake the mothers' business at 
a later time, only too easily abandon the path correctly 
pointed out by the pure motherly feeling, as could be 
easily demonstrated in many places ; but we wish and en- 
deavor to have that which the natural motherly feeling 
correctly though unconsciously suggests clearly recognized 
and constantly and progressively fostered, and so that life 
may become by this, for parents and child, a whole, the 
parts of which constantly, progressively, and reciprocally 
train one another — a whole which is consciously and pro- 
gressively formed. 

Thus the mother, guided by human feelings, connects 
the mute action, the becoming and become, with that 
which is perceptible only to the sight and touch — as, for 
instance, the action is connected with a definite place and 
object, and then, almost without exception, is connected 
with the audible word, the sign vanishing again almost as 
soon as it arises. 

From the connection of opposites and the duality of 
the silent and the sounding, of the abiding and the van- 
ishing, of the visible and the invisible, of the corporeal 
and the spiritual object, there goes forth to the child 
(who also bears this duality within himself in its unity) 
the object as recognized by the mind, and thus held fast, 
and the consciousness of the object; in this way con- 
sciousness itself develops in the child. 

But consciousness itself belongs to the nature of man 



40 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

and is one with it. To become conscious of itself is the 
first task in the life of the child, as it is the task of the 
whole life of man. That this task may be accomplished, 
the child is even from his first appearance on earth sur- 
rounded by a definite place, and by objects : by the air 
blowing around all living creatures, as well as by the 
arousing, human, spiritual language of words ; and so the 
animating word, at least the animating song, belong to 
each voluntary employment, and hence to playing with 
the child. Genuine, childlike human beings, mothers 
especially, as we have before seen, know this very well of 
themselves, therefore they undertake nothing with the 
child which they do not accompany with words spiritu- 
ally exhaled and inhaled, even if obliged to confess that 
there can be no understanding of the spoken words by the 
child, as the general sense of hearing is not yet developed, 
still less the special hearing of words. So we find the 
mother, soon after the child's birth, caressing and talking 
to the little one ; for that which can develop and origi- 
nate, and is intended to do so, begins and must begin 
when as yet nothing exists but the conditions ; the possi- 
bility, and, especially with human fostering, the dim an- 
ticipation of it. Thus is it with the attainment of man to 
consciousness, and the speech required and conditioned 
by that attainment to consciousness. 

But now, how shall this word accompanying the play 
with the child, the play-speech of the child, be formed ? 

As childlike, as motherly, as playfully as possible ; so 
motherly, that the mother creates it herself in the instant 
of using it with the child ; that, quite unconsciously to 
herself, she creates it afresh in her own mind and from 
life so that it passes away as the word dies away ; for this 
speech is to express the highest personal and most di- 



THE BALL. 41 

rectly felt motherly life with the child ; it is therefore 
impossible to put it down in black and white and repre- 
sent it in its individuality, in its life-awakening and life- 
ravishing fullness, which is caused by momentary emotions 
of the mind and mind-union, by gaze, movement, and 
tone, as well as by song, etc. 

Yet, in order as much as possible to come to an under- 
standing with the dear fosterers of childhood, a hint at 
least, may be permitted to us. 

Just as soon as the child's first capacity for speech 
is somewhat developed, we note how it follows out the 
sound in and by means of the movement which it remarks, 
and that it tries to imitate that sound with its own or- 
gans. " Tic, tac," we hear it say, in imitation of the move- 
ment of the pendulum and the striking of the clock. We 
hear it say, or sing, " Bim, bom," when the sound of the 
movement is more audible, or is comprehended as a sound. 
In the words i7i and out (Innen U7id Aussen), it is worthy 
of note that the child uses the vowel scale e — ah — oo, 
which symbolizes the movement from within (e) to the 
outward (oo). 

Thoughtful and observant nurses can therefore ob- 
serve many and beautiful things in all the first expres- 
sions of the workings of the child's inner life, especial- 
ly when he begins actually to speak. These many and 
beautiful things which can be observed are an essential 
guidance in fostering the development of the child. So 
we must perceive that the child, in the beginning of 
its use of speech, comprehends, designates, and retains 
through the words " tic, tac " rather the physical part of 
the movement ; but by " bim, bom " he comprehends the 
movement more from the feeling, if one might so say, in 
the mind. And (if I may be permitted to express myself 



42 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

thus) through the " there, here," which comes later, the 
child follows the movement more as a thing of compari- 
son, of recognition, and, in his dawning thought, more 
intellectually. 

A further treatment of this subject must come later ; 
now, we can only remark that it is highly important for 
the nurse to observe even the first and slightest traces of 
the articulate connection of the corporeal, intellectual, 
and spiritual nature of the child, and to observe it in 
its development from existence to sensation and thought, 
so that none of these directions of the child's nature 
should be arrested, or cultivated, in the development of 
the child at the expense of the others ; but neither should 
any be repressed and neglected for the sake of the oth- 
ers. It appears important to us here, and we believe that 
all who quietly consider the first development of the child 
have already remarked, or will yet remark, that children, 
even from the first stage of development at the point to 
which they have , arrived, are apt to indicate the swing- 
ing movement, " bim, bom," in a singing tone which ap-, 
preaches to song, and serves as such the emotional nature 
and its cultivation. They thus early and definitely point 
out that the center, the real foundation, the starting point 
of human development, and thus of the child's develop- 
ment, is the heart and emotions ; but the training to ac- 
tion and to thought, the corporeal and spiritual, goes on 
constantly and inseparably by the side of it ; and thought 
must form itself into action, and action resolve and clear 
itself in thought ; but both have their roots in the emo- 
tional nature. 

After these remarks, which are necessary for the 
knowledge, fostering, and protection of the p^mitive 
course of development, and of the laws of development 



THE BALL. 43 

of the human being, let us return to our childish play, 
but now with a presentiment of its deep significance. 

By a slow and constant pull, the ball, hanging to a 
string, escapes from the child's hand, and " Bim, bom ; 
bim, bom ; tic, tac ; tic, tac ; here, there ; here, there " 
sounds immediately from the mother's mouth, and in- 
dicates the movement of the ball. 

This quite simple play admits of many changes by con- 
necting it with different tones and words. 

" See, child, see the ball — there, here ; there, here." 
(Compare Nos. 1 and 2, Plate I.) 

The ball resting, " Here "hangs the ball." 

Slowly raising and lowering the ball by the string, 
" Up, down." (See Nos. 5 and 6.) 

Letting it swing over an object (for example, the other 
hand placed crosswise) : " There, here ; there, here ; over 
there, over here." (See Nos. 3 and 4.) Or, considerably 
lengthening the string, that the ball may swing slowly now 
toward the child, now away from him, " Near, far ; near, 
far " ; or, " Now comes the ball ; off goes the ball," or " The 
ball comes ; the ball goes away " ; or as a general indica- 
tion, " Here it comes, there it goes." 

Swinging the ball slowly in a circle : " Around, around ; 
round to the right, round to the right ; round to the left, 
round to the left." (Compare Nos. 13, 14, 15.) 

Or, playing with the ball on a firm surface on the table 
before the child, " Tap, tap, tap," letting the ball fall on 
different parts of the surface, especially in a vertical di- 
rection. (See No. 7.) 

" Jump, ball, jump ! " " See, now the ball jumps ! 
Jump ! jump ! jump ! " letting the ball, held by the string, 
fall quickly and rebound by its own elasticity. (See 
No. 9.) 



44 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Or, helping it by a quick, short drawing of the string, 
" The ball jumps high " ; " The ball can jump no more ; 
it is tired ; it lies down to sleep." 

Quickly lifting the ball from the surface of the table 
on something, for example, the ball's box, " Hop up high " ; 
or, raising it quickly over the box, " Hop over." (See Nos. 
8 and 10.) 

Twirling the ball on a surface in a horizontal position 
by the string, and then around a center, and imitating 
with the voice the more outward movement " r r r r " or 
merely "Around, around." (See No. 20.) 

And now raising the ball quickly by the string in a 
vertical direction into the air, and now hanging it, letting 
it twirl quietly and quickly backward, and now imitating 
more its inner movement by " 1 1 1 1 " or " Turn thee, turn 
thee ; swiftly, swiftly," or, pointing out the increasing 
speed of the movement, " Faster and faster." (See No. 
21.) 

The rolling on the surface can now be repeated, " Now 
to the right, now to the left " ; and so also can the turning 
of the ball hanging by the string be changed, " Now to 
the left, now to the right." 

Then drawing the ball on a surface, " Pull, pull, pull." 
(See No. 22.) The string may at this point be laid in the 
child's hand, and string and hand grasped by the mother's 
hand and the ball drawn off the support : "Ah, there falls 
the ball ! " This, which appears to the child an effect of 
his own action, delights him exceedingly. 

Now the swinging movement may be again made with 
the ball in the air, either out from the middle, " Always 
wider," or from the outside toward the center "Always 
narrower." (See Nos. 16 and 17.) 

As the child before perceived the circling movement, 



THE BALL. 45 

SO it sees here the spiral widening and narrowing. So 
the movement of the ball can also be made in an oval 
line, " Lengthen out," or " Widen out." 

In the same way, winding the ball on a string up and 
down round a stick in the form of a screw, " Always higher, 
always lower." (See Nos. 18 and 19.) 

Or, merely drawing the ball on a string slowly up and 
letting it down, " High, low ; high, low." 

Now, the ball free from the string is allowed to roll on 
the surface. " Eoll, roll, roll, roll ; there the ball runs ! " 
(See Nos. 11 and 12.) 

Or the ball can be made to recoil from a surface — for 
example, the ball-box or a book : " Come, ball, come again 
to baby " ; " Here conies the ball " ; " Catch the ball " ; 
" The ball has fallen " ; " Go for the ball " ; " Look for the 
ball." The mother may lift the child to the place where 
the ball lies, in order that the little one may itself pick 
it up. If the child has attained to any degree of intel- 
lectual and physical development and strength, he mjist 
be allowed to pick up the ball himself when he throws it 
to the ground ; and if the child is as yet too small and 
helpless to move himself for that purpose, he must be 
lifted to the place where the ball lies, especially if he him- 
self has thrown the ball away ; so that he may early ex- 
perience the consequences and requirements of his own 
action, and discover that he must himself fulfill the re- 
quirements and bear the consequences. Effort should be 
early made not only to have the child make many and 
definite discoveries, but to have it retain them, as well in 
respect to their connections with each other as in respect 
to their results. 

"Where is the ball?" "There is the ball again." 
" Ball, stay now with baby." 



46 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Or, closing the hand over the ball, " Where is the ball ? " 
Opening the hand again, " There is the ball." (See Nos. 
25 and 26.) 

A beautiful exercise, which is particularly pleasing 
to the child, is this : to make the ball turn constantly 
around its own center in the hollowed hand by a con- 
stant alteration of its center of gravity, or rather its 
point of support. This play can be well performed by 
moving the ball in a saucer in the same manner, by 
which the ball can be made to run around almost on the 
rim without falling. This representation can be accom- 
panied by — " Dance prettily," or " See, the ball dances ! " 
etc. 

Or, raising the ball again by the string behind the 
other hand, placed crosswise, " Off ! " etc. " Where ! " etc. 
Bringing it again before the hand, " There ! " etc. (See 
Nos. 25 and 26.) 

Each of these exercises can now be repeated by itself 
as often as it gives the child pleasure. Through this 
repetition these exercises become just as important for 
the extension of the horizon of experience as for the 
greater clearness, definiteness, and distinctness of the 
child's experiences. 

Thoughtful and attentive mothers and nurses can, 
however, perceive that all this proceeds from the play and 
the exercises themselves. 

Then, lowering the ball into some inclosed space — for 
example, into the ball box — " Deep in ! " 

Shutting the ball up in the box again : " The ball is 
gone ! " " It wants to sleep ! " " My child is tired ; yes, it 
is tired ; it wants to sleep too ! " 

These and many other observation exercises offer in 
their connections innumerable changes for the employ- 



THE BALL. 47 

ment of the child and for the awakening and nourishing 
of his intellectual as well as of his bodily activity ; especially 
when the limbs of the child are so strengthened and de- 
veloped in power that the ball can be given up to him, at 
least partly, and he can, by his capacity for speech, which 
is equally developing, already enter into a kind of conver- 
sation with his nurse ; and yet we have here in the em- 
ployment with the ball a whole side of childish employ- 
ment and play to consider, namely, the fact that the child 
likes so much to see all in each object, a7id to malce all 
from each. Many kinds of objects, inanimate and ani- 
mate, can not fail to appear in the neighborhood of the 
child, in his surroundings ; to the latter especially his at- 
tention is called involuntarily by their coming and going, 
or, intentionally, by his nurse. Life generally attracts 
life, as it awakens life. The child sees the coming of the 
dog and cat ; in one case of the poodle or Spitz, in the 
other of the cat or kitten. The child notices the bird, 
the birdie in the cage, the sparrow at the window ; the 
dove, the cock, and hen, the hen and chicken in the yard ; 
he sees the carriage, and the horse, etc. 

In conformity with this quality and requirement of 
the child, the swinging ball can now become a birdie : 
" See how the birdie flies, now here, now there ! " 

Now the springing ball can become a kitten : " There 
springs the kitty on the bench." 

Now a dog : " Hop goes the dog over the hedge." 

Now the ball becomes a chicken : " Tip, tap, tap, the 
chicken comes running." 

Now the cock : " Tap, tap, tap, the cock picks up the 
corn." 

Now a squirrel which climbs up the tree, going round 
and round it, or in the same manner climbs down. 



4:8 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Now a miner : " He goes deep down into the shaft." 

Or the ball without a string : now the sheep which we 
must watch ; now the horse or colt which springs away ; 
now the dog which comes running, " Bow, wow, wow ! " 
But now, again the ball on the string, on the carriage (or, 
if it is winter, on the sled or sleigh) which is drawn ; and 
a hundred other things. 

The thought now impresses itself upon us as an im- 
portant one, that by one and the same object, and that, 
moreover, an inanimate object (in this case the ball), are 
perceived, and as it were made, many kinds of objects, and 
above all live ones ; from which follows another thought 
that objects are brought before the child by words here 
(as also indeed in life) which it has not yet even once 
seen ; which are not to be found at all in its neighbor- 
hood. 

Yet this might appear inadmissible to many a one who 
has not yet deeply and universally enough entered into 
the course of development of the child's life and its con- 
ditions, although we have already pointed out its existence 
in the nature and life of the child. We will therefore 
briefly justify this procedure, without, however, penetrating 
deeply into human nature, in which it could be very 
easily demonstrated as necessary and as required*; but this 
is not the place for it. At some time the anticipation and 
thus the inner recognition of the special and the general, 
will be unfolded to the child. But this takes place when, 
as already remarked^ the opposites, having yet some simi- 
larity, are compared with one another. Then also the 
fewer special similarities and qualities that the means of 
perception or the object used to play with has with the 
presented object (which, of course, must be connected by 
preceding connecting links), the more skilled the child be- 



THE BALL. 49 

comes thereby; he now considers the actual object in 
order to obtain a clear impression of it and of its special 
qualities, so as to rise from the perception of the object 
to that of its kind, and from the perception of the kind 
to that of its species, etc. 

The second remark is, that objects are here brought 
before the child which indeed the playing adult has seen, 
but which as yet the playing child has not seen at all. 
Though this is not to be scrupulously avoided, as little is 
it to be thoughtlessly carried too far ; kept within right 
limits it justifies itself to any simple and straightforward 
mind. The life and the course of development of the 
human being and the laws of this development make this 
repeat itself with the most developed man, for, as man is 
a being destined to attain increasing consciousness, so he 
is also to become and be a reasoning and judging being. 
Besides, man has a peculiar presaging power of imagina- 
tion, as indeed also — what must never be forgotten, but 
always kept in view as important and guiding — the new- 
born child is not merely to become a man, lut the man 
already appears and indeed is in the child with all Ms 
talents and the U7iity of his nature. 

Objects not yet seen in life by the child may therefore 
be introduced to him through word and playthings that 
represent these objects, but with the following restric- 
tion : this introduction (as, for example, in the preced- 
ing pages, of the squirrel) ought not to take place before 
the child — who is through frequent repetition quite fa- 
miliar with the object, near, already often seen, and 
always possible to be seen again (for example, the kitten) 
— in the qualities of the personifying object (here of 
the ball), has recognized the qualities of the personified 
object (here of the kitten), and likewise has seen in and 



50 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

through the first (the ball) the second (the kitten) ; has 
learned to represent it, for example, by the jumping. 
'Now the child has also noticed the climbing of the cat, 
and when it is said, as above, "The squirrel climbs," 
etc., the child quickly comes to the conclusion that the 
squirrel is a living thing that climbs. This is enough to 
excite its attention, so that when he some day sees a 
squirrel, and the squirrel is named to him as such, he fixes 
his eyes upon it sharply, and perhaps, indeed, even without 
hearing its name, recognizes it as such from this quality 
and other connections. This is a sufficient hint for the 
justification of this childlike, motherly, and (in the nur- 
sery) domestic procedure. 

We now go back to the contemplation of the ball as 
the first plaything, and bring into prominence as essential 
the fact that it (being, as it were, the representative and 
means of perception of all that is contained in and rests 
in itself) offers to be perceived, produced, and handled 
only the fundamental form, as it were the rough sketch of 
all which can present itself as a whole and can act spon- 
taneously as such ; so that several of the phenomena of 
the ball — such as presence, departure, return, seeking, 
finding, getting, catching, grasping, holding, rolling, 
sliding, turning, etc. — can be represented by each of the 
said objects as well as by the ball, which is, just on that 
account, such an excellent and attractive plaything for 
the child. But though, as just stated, several of the phe- 
nomena of the ball can be represented by each of the said 
objects, this is not the case with all the phenomena — for 
instance, the multifariousness of movement. For this rea- 
son, in order to increase the powers and advance the devel- 
opment of the child, the plays carried through with the 
ball are, as the opportunity or the demand is made, given 



THE BALL. 51 

in part with other objects — for example, an apple, a 
handkerchief, a ball of thread, a key, a nut, a flower, etc. 
— and these objects are thus brought before the child in 
various kinds of activity. But the ball always remains 
as the uniting and explaining object, and thus the true 
means of connection and understanding, and the very 
plaything to connect the child with his nurses and his 
surroundings. 

If the child is now old enough to sit alone and likes to 
do so, and also to creep or drag himself from one place to 
another, the play with the ball can be essentially and effi- 
ciently extended. Thus a quilt is spread in the room, the 
child seated on it, and a ball, now with, now without a 
string, given to him for his own spontaneous handling. 
Also, if it can be easily accomplished, a ball of suitable 
size can be fastened by a sufficiently strong cord to the 
ceiling of the room, so that the child can at times employ 
himself with swinging himself with the ball, and at times 
can raise himself up, and so can stand by means of it. He 
will thus learn to hold himself more surely in equili- 
brium, and to stand more easily than if he raises himself 
up by a body which stands firmly — a chair, or a bench — 
which does away with the necessity for him to maintain 
his own center of gravity ; and if he falls, the fall is less 
painful, with a good quilt to fall on. Yet more suitable 
is it, in reference to the child's learning to stand, that the 
ball, proportionately increased in size and fastened to a 
strong and sufficiently long string, be given into the hand 
of the child seated on a sufficiently thick quilt, with the 
directions to hold it firmly. Now the attempt is made to 
raise the child higher and higher by means of the cord 
which is fastened to the ball. The raising and lowering 
will please the child, as well as strengthen the muscles of 



52 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

the whole body, hips and thighs especially. If he is thus 
raised by means of the ball and string to a standing posi- 
tion, he can soon easily stand independently. 

Here is now the point, as beautiful as it is important, 
where the life and activity of the father also, at times 
when his business permits, can exert a fostering and de- 
veloping influence on the life of the child ; and the ball 
here again appears as a connecting link between child and 
father, as it was at an earlier period between child and 
mother. The child in the father's company is to grow 
up, as it were, climb up to him, and by his aid is to steady 
itself ; all this is now offered in manifold shapes by the 
above given play with the ball, by which, in order to ren- 
der it again prominent, the father comes into his right re- 
lation to the child, calling out his strength, etc. (consid- 
eration, reflection), but also using and thus developing 
strength, etc. By means of the earlier play, especially of 
that connected with speech, the mother, with all her mild- 
ness, enters into the life of the child. 

So the first play of the child with the ball is now re- 
vealed in its nature as well as in its application and its 
general effects. Through this is given to you, dear par- 
ents, for your child, what is as beneficial as it is impor- 
tant — the means for his constantly progressive develop- 
ment, from the first activity of the limbs and senses up to 
independent sitting and voluntary self-occupation, and a 
means is given of leading toward the constant fostering 
of these developments. We now see how comprehensively 
the child's life is satisfied by the play with the ball. 

We see, in proportion as the first child's plays which 
we have given are apparently simple and transient, as they 
are born at the moment and are dropped again at the 
moment and supplanted by others ; in proportion as the 



THE BALL. 53 

child is at first not capable of receiving them in their 
complex details, just in that proportion are they impor- 
tant for the unfolding and the growth of the child in all 
ways ; for since we are thoroughly penetrated by the con- 
viction that the movements of the young and delicate 
mind of the child, although as yet so small as to be almost 
unnoticeable, are of the most essential consequence to the 
whole future life of the child, therefore no perception is 
more important for the child and his future life and 
action than that of the unity of all manifoldness and that 
of the living correlation between both, and these two per- 
ceptions are shown to the child as definitely as manifoldly 
by the ball as appears from what follows. 

It is evident to the child that all the various plays 
proceed from the single ball, and that all in their phenom- 
ena refer again to the uniting ball ; they make known the 
manifoldness resting in the ball, which is itself single ; 
they proceed from unity and again lead back to unity. In 
the second and also opposite view, the play is considered 
from the child outward ; all activity, although connected 
with the ball, proceeds definitely from the child (who is in 
himself a unit), and, although using the ball as a means, 
refers to the child, who is in himself a unit. The child is 
in himself unity and manifoldness, and destined to develop 
this unity and manifoldness by the surrounding outer 
world ; and for this, also, the ball serves through the play 
with it, but especially by its individuality and its proper- 
ties ; for the ball itself, being the representative of all ob- 
jects, is the unity and union of the essential properties of 
all objects. Thus the ball shows contents, mass, matter, 
space, form, size, and figure; it bears within itself an 
independent power (elasticity), and hence it has rest and 
movement, and consequently stability and spontaneity ; it 



54 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

offers even color, and at least calls forth sound ; it is in- 
deed heavy — that is, it is attracted — and thus shares in 
the general property of all bodies. Therefore the ball, by 
its fall, by its quicker movement on a shorter and its 
slower movement on a longer string, leads to the consid- 
eration of the most important phenomena and laws of 
earth-life and the life of Nature, of attraction in general, 
and first of all of the attraction of the earth, especially of 
its laws and limitations, in which and through which only, 
the child himself lives and has his being as a human 
dweller on the earth, since he lives and exists only through 
the breathing in of the air. Therefore the ball, as a con- 
necting plaything between parent and child, places man 
in the midst of all, on his entrance into the world and 
with the activity of his limbs and senses, in the midst of 
all phenomena and perceptions of Nature, as of all limita- 
tions of Nature, and of all life ; for what is more attract- 
ive than life ? But to place man through a skillful edu- 
cation in the understanding of and in harmony with Na- 
ture and life, and to maintain him in it with consciousness 
and circumspection, can not be done too early. 

Hence the ball, as we have already seen in many ways, 
is a bond of connection between mother and child, be- 
tween parent and child — it is a connection between the 
child and his nearest surroundings— *and thus is it in gen- 
eral a bond of connection between the child and Nature ; 
and the ball connects the child with Nature as much as 
the universe connects man with God. 

As now the ball, by its individuality and by means of 
the play with it, places man, even in childhood, in the 
midst of the life of Nature and of all life, and makes 
itself perceived and felt in it, so in like manner it makes 
the child early to feel and find himself in the midst of 



THE BALL. 55 

his own life, in the midst of his perceptive (feeling), his 
operative and creative, and his comparing (thinking) ac- 
tivity. The ball and the play with the ball lay hold of 
the whole man as a child, in respect to his body as well 
as in respect to his mind and soul. Thus, in order to 
bring forward with precision one phenomenon, only one, 
and here the nearest to us, which has been mentioned, the 
ball (even in its first swinging movement, if this move- 
ment is several times and often repeated, and by the 
words " tic tac, tic tac," the child is made to notice the 
movement through space and its regular intervals and re- 
member it) has an exciting effect on the body of the child, 
which effect is expressed by hopping, also a measured 
movement. But is not even this single play, developed in 
harmony with the whole human being, important for his 
whole life ? Is it not even the dim, how much more yet the 
developed, feeling of the correct time, that is, the feeling 
of tact or the right instant at which to exert an influence 
on another by his activity, which later often preserves man 
from so many disagreeable experiences? And does not 
this depend on the earlier development of man which 
always remembers what was opportune, and which is least 
retarded when it finds itself in harmony with the oc- 
casion. 

The movement, on the contrary, predominantly full of 
life and expression, which is comprised in and represented 
by *"* bim, bom," etc., acts on the heart ; this fact is made 
known in the course of the development of the child by 
his laughter as an expression of the arousing of emotions 
and of the use of his eyes. Do we not already see by 
this how beneficial, melodious, and therefore harmoni- 
ous, training is for man at an early stage of his being ? 
But the movement, more suggestive of comparison, com- 



56 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGAKTEN. 

prehended in and represented by the words " there, here," 
acts predominantly on the intellect, and makes itself 
known in the course of the child's development by the 
imperfect speech connected with it as the spontaneous ex- 
pression of the child's awakening power of thought ; and 
do we not find indicated in this already the peculiarity 
and requirement of the human mind to render itself in- 
telligible, to clarify itself by communication with others ? 
As now each of the single plays severally considered 
lay hold upon the child early in the trinity of his nature 
as creating, feeling, and thinking, so do yet more the play- 
ful employments considered as a whole. The attentive ob- 
server can easily perceive that one whole series of the plays 
belong pre-eminently to the actual, external, and creative 
life, or at least refer to it ; these may be even described as 
useful in a certain point of view. With another series 
of plays, each, without reference to anything extraneous, 
suffices for itself, because an inner unity, a life which is 
in itself single, appears in an outward manifoldness which 
harmonizes with it. The representation of these plays, 
through which inner unity (existence) appears in and by 
means of harmonious variety, and shines forth from it, 
as it were, can not receive a more significant designa- 
tion than beautiful. So in the third series of plays each 
single play is likewise only attractive to the child in, by 
and through its various relations, properties, and connec- 
tions, each of which has been already suggested — indeed, 
indicated inwardly — before it appeared outwardly, and 
therefore before it was recognized. One can not but say of 
these plays that they early enchain the child's attention 
on account of their truth, though unconsciously to the 
little one himself, and perhaps unrecognized by him 
thi'ough his whole life. 



THE BALL. 57 

Thus, without bringing out from the mentioned plays 
authentic proofs for the stated series, which is very pos- 
sible to a thoughtful consideration, we here show only 
how directly the course of childish employments, to which 
the path is broken by the first child-plays (which, be- 
ginning from the ball, advancing constantly according to 
inner laws, is now to be pursued uninterruptedly in the 
production of means for the child's employment), early 
leads the child to a harmonious training for usefulness, 
beauty, and truth ; and how mxcans are early given to the 
parents to attain the harmonious cultivation of their child ; 
we are to consider to which side of the cultivation he 
predominantly inclines ; since one excludes the other no 
more than life, art, and science do, so man, and still more 
the child, ought not to be educated and cultivated one- 
sidedly and exclusively for the one or the other. 

The cultivation of the mental power of the child in 
different directions is also attained by the use of the ball 
as the first plaything. The child learns by the use of it 
to keep an object in view not only in a state of rest, but 
also in the changes of its phenomena. The plays carried 
on with the ball awaken and exercise the power of the 
child's intellect to place again before himself an object not 
present to his bodily eyes, to perceive it inwardly even 
when the outward appearance has vanished. These plays 
awaken and exercise the power of representing, of remem- 
bering, of retaining in remembrance an object seen for- 
merly, of again thinking of it — that is, they foster the 
memory. 

The awakening and fostering of the powers of the mind 
to compare, to conclude, to judge, to think, have been 
already discussed, and every observer can easily see how by 
these plays the powers are further awakened and exercised 



58 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

in tlie child, how they continue to develop and are more 
and more formed within. Only, we must remark, what 
is capable of demonstration, that this most delicate growth 
of the mind is germinated and fostered quietly and gradu- 
ally by means of the actions, feelings, and thoughts of the 
mother, and by means of her love, faith, and hope with 
respect to the child, although yet so imperceptibly in the 
child's life thus connected with the mother's — by means 
of the ball and the play with the ball. 

We see the human being as a child, yes, even as an 
infant, placed in the midst of his life, as of all life, by 
means of the ball and the play with the ball ; for his own 
life, his mother's life, his father's life, and the life of all 
his surroundings become to him thus inwardly vital and 
jointly objective, as the life and the love of the mother as 
become one and objective to him in the fullness of the 
mother's breast which affords him nourishment, which 
itself appears to him a ball, and is his all. 

Again, dear mothers, dear fathers, and nurses, do not 
think and believe that the child, in his predominantly 
physical, indeed as yet quite helpless stage of develop- 
ment, is not susceptible to all that has been mentioned. 
You err deeply, you err to the great detriment of the whole 
future life of your child and the fruits of your otherwise 
strenuous care of the child. The child is just as sus- 
ceptible to it as the kernel hidden deeply in the earth 
in darkness, or the bud on the tree covered by hard scales 
even resembling a stone, are sensitive to the return of the 
sun in spring or even to a warm but evanescent breath of 
air. He, then, who does not already perceive and foster 
consciously and circumspectly the traces of the future de- 
velopment of the future life of the child when still hidden 
in the depths and in the night, he also will not clearly 



THE BALL. 59 

perceive them, nor proportionately, or at least not suffic- 
ingly, foster them even when they lie open before him. 
Only through the comprehension of the connection, as 
fervent as it is full of life ; or rather of the eternal trinity 
• — of the invisible, the invisibly perceptible, and the visi- 
ble — is life itself comprehended. 

But one thing remains for us to bring forward in the 
consideration and contemplation of the plays with the 
ball : this is the definite, clear, and legitimate develop- 
ment of the child's capacity for speech in the progressive 
course of the play. As the child, as has been demonstrated 
in many ways, is placed by this playing in the midst 
of Nature and of life, or rather finds itself buoyant with 
life, so it is also by this playing placed in the midst of 
its capacity for speech, of the legitimate development of 
that capacity, or rather finds and quietly unfolds itself 
therein. 

' A few hints from the many which could be given 
and clearly presented on the subject must here and now 
suffice ; this subject will be later taken up again and 
treated of by itself. Here on that subject we will give 
as hints only the following : The language which accom- 
panies the first child-play seems to be clear, precise, full, 
significant, simple, and yet completely satisfying. Even 
the first words of it, to which the play gave rise and 
which the child discovered, and ever anew discovers, con- 
tain the whole material of words — that is, in these words 
are immediately given vowel sounds, open and closed 
sounds. Each appears clear and distinct, each comes forth 
pure in its nature in the childish words, bim, bom (bourn). 
So in au (aou) are defined and given the three funda- 
mental voice sounds, a, o, u, and in i their relating, mid- 
dle, or conclusion ; and thus through them is given the 



60 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

complete compass of vowel sounds in language.* Also, 
the compass of language brought into employment by the 
play, slight as it appears, embraces the whole province of 
language proceeding from the perception and comprehen- 
sion of the object in space. The words used are mostly 
word stems or roots, and from them develops speech full 
of life, regular and all-sided, as an image of the two great 
worlds, the inner and the outer world. 

The ball gives to the child all this, and many another 
thing, which is not at all retained by word as an outside 
phenomenon in its individualities, and joins itself to all 
as the first childish plaything ; through it the little one 
develops himself ; by it is strengthened in the unity of 
his nature and life, proportionally in body and in spirit. 
It is enough that in the first plays with the ball the life of 
the child makes itself known, and the outer world makes 
itself known to the child in unity. 

* For explanation of voice sounds, open and closed sounds, see 
Education of Man. 



THE SEED COKi^ AIJD THE CHILD. A COMPARISON". 

Let us look at a seed corn, a kernel ; let us with 
thought and consideration give utterance to the word 
kernel; let us now at once look at a child ; let us feeling. 
ly and thoughtfully utter the word child. Have we now 
expressed less in the word child than in the word corn or 
kernel? Have we perceived less in the child than in 
either of the others f 

But we cultivate a kernel, a grain of corn, just on ac- 
count of its innermost, of its life ; though that life exists 
in it as yet so enveloped and, as it were, so veiled ; though 
the form of life hidden within it be invisible and unrecog- 
nizable. We cultivate it that it may unfold before us its 
life, its nature, in forms, unhindered, with force and spon- 
taneous action, as truly as perceptibly and as beautifully as 
powerfully. We remove everything from it which might 
disturb and stifle, or even only unnaturally check, this free, 
spontaneous, independent development in harmony with 
the whole ; and all this we do so much the more when the 
kernel, or corn, is the seed of a plant as yet unknown to 
us in its whole nature — a plant from another part of the 
world, which only very few men are fortunate enough to 
have seen in the glory of its complete unfolding. 

But is, then, the nature of man and of humanity less 
unknown to us ? Is it not even less known to us ? But 



62 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

why, then, do we observe the human child far less than the 
seed corn or the germ of a plant in the totality of its de- 
velopment ? Why do we pay him less attention in inward, 
uniform coherence with the collective whole of Nature and 
life than we do the seed corn and the germ of the plant ? 
Is it then to be supposed that in the human child the ca- 
pacity, the talent for becoming a whole complete human 
being, is contained less than in the acorn is contained 
the capacity to become a strong, vigorous, complete oak ? 
But, as the germ bears within itself the plant and the 
whole plant life, does not the child bear also within him- 
self the whole man and the whole life of humanity ? 



VI. 



THE PLAY AKD PLAYING OF THE CHILD IK HAEMOKY 
WITH HIS DEVELOPMENT AND WITH THE TOTALITY 
OF THE KELATIONS OF HIS LIFE. 

As the child's first bodily nourishment must be and is 
in harmony with the development of its digestive organs 
(intended for preserving, strengthening, and unfolding the 
bodily life), so must also the first fostering and nourish- 
ment of the child's soul life be in exact accord with the 
development of its bodily functions — quite especially with 
the development of the organs of sense. 

As rest at first appears as the expression and demand 
of the bodily life, so movement soon appears as the ex- 
pression and demand of the soul life of the child. 

As the bodily requirement of the child is at first a soft, 
warm, and clean place of repose, and, especially, warm sur- 
roundings, so, soon after the first development of his sense 
of sight, of his eye, he seeks the clear, simple, quite gentle 
motion of a bright object, and keeps his gaze fixed upon 
it. This intimation of an intellect begins a few weeks 
after birth. 

As the mouth of the child in its infancy is especially 
adapted for sucking, for taking in the bodily nourishment, 
so the eye of the child appears pre-eminently adapted to 
taking in, as it were, the mental nourishment which is at 
first obtained through a perception of the motion and then 



64 PEDAGOGICS OP THE KINDERGARTEN. 

of the objept itself ; as the mouth takes in at first only 
the fluid, and in the fluid the solid, so the eye at first per- 
ceives the motion, especially the motion of the phenom- 
ena of light, and in and by means of the motion perceives 
the object. 

Therefore the mother, while she quietly supplies to 
the child the tepid milk from her breast, early calls his 
attention to what is light and shining, to the moving 
and movable light by word and look ; she therefore calls 
the light, " the little light," and, considering it only in its 
movability, " the birdie." 

Who does not know how very early the mother-love 
interests the child by the little lights by the iirdie, and 
also by the mousie, although he perceives in them only 
the appearance of light, the shining, moving in space. 
So children at a very early age would enjoy for almost 
an hour looking and gazing at the shining moon and the 
starry sky ; indeed, if they have enjoyed looking at the 
first especially, once or twice, they long for it definitely as 
soon as the time for its appearance returns. 

It is certainly important to consider how children, 
and especially little children, like to contemplate the sun, 
moon, and stars ; for this is the first and genuine begin- 
ning of the contemplation of Nature and of the world to 
which the child, the human being, is called through the 
fact of being born. In general, all things which have the 
star — the radiate — form, which are on that account so 
commonly called " little stars " by the child, very early 
enchain it. The expression " little star " makes, there- 
fore, later the same arousing and delighting impression 
on the child as did the expression " the little light " at an 
earlier period of his life, and star-formed flowers espe- 
cially attract his attention j even the stars of the sky are 



PLAY AND PLAYING WITH THE CHILD. 65 

placed by the child in human relations to himself. As, 
for example, what was mentioned in a previous work 
(Education of Man), that a little child who could only 
just speak, and to whom its mother, one clear evening, 
showed two brightly shining planets situated toward the 
east and very near each other, immediately exclaimed of 
its own accord, full of joyful astonishment, " Father and 
mother stars ! " 

What may not be developed in the child's life by 
means of this childish conception if it be early and ten- 
derly retained ? 

But we return after this apparent digression to the 
stage of the child's development with which we are now 
particularly employed. 

At the same time with the organs of the senses, espe- 
cially those of sight and hearing, are, however, soon de- 
veloped also the organs of movement, and so first of all 
the arms and hands. We gave therefore to the mother — as 
the expression of the corporeal movement in space early 
comprehended by the child and containing in itself at the 
same time unity and manifoldness— for her first plays and 
playing with the child, the colored, bright, red, green, or 
yellow ball, as it were, as a uniting and personifying model 
body, as well for cultivating the perception of an object 
as such, as in reference to rest and movement. In order to 
make obvious the unity of feeling and perception through 
sight, and yet also the separateness of both through 
warmth and light in the child, the ball, in itself elastic, 
has its bright color, its warmth-exciting cover ; for through 
light it makes itself known to the sight, as through 
warmth to the feeling, as an objective phenomenon. 

The first impressions of the soul — as it were, the first 
knowledges — come to the child in the first plays of the 



QQ PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

senses by its own activity as well as by the mother-love 
bearing within it the life of the child and its require- 
ments. These first impressions of the soul come thus to 
the child in the first plays for the senses by means of per- 
ception and seeing, and by means of coming, staying, and 
vanishing; by means of change, thus also, in a certain 
point of view, by means of early dim conceptions of se- 
quence, of foundation and results, of cause and effect, and 
thus of dim comparison. 

From the examination of the relations of mother and 
child in corporeal as in mental life appears thus clearly 
the notice of the facts so important for the higher hu- 
man life and for the higher life of humanity, that love 
and knowledge, loving and recognizing, stand in intimate 
interchange, and that fostering of joint life is the union, 
the fount of both. 

We see and recognize thus in the first phenomena of 
the child's life how the child must be rightly compre- 
hended, considered, and treated from his first expression 
of life (however involuntary and without definite aim 
these phenomena may appear to be) in the progressive 
course of his development as well as in his nature, in his 
relations to his mother and to his nearest surroundings, 
indeed, in his relations to the universe, and to the prime- 
val cause of all — to God. Carefully observing parents 
and thoughtful true nurses can, by looking back into 
their own lives, find how such a careful fostering of child- 
hood has affected the development of their own lives, 
or would have affected that development if it had taken 
place. It is therefore essential that parents and nurses, 
for the benefit of their children and for the blissful results 
of their efforts to educate the children, should recall as 
much as possible the first phenomena, the course and the 



PLAY AND PLAYING WITH THE CHILD. 67 

limitations of the development of their own total life, and 
to compare them with the phenomena, the course and the 
limitations of the general development of the world and 
of life in Nature and in history, and so seek to raise them- 
selves by degrees to the recognition and perception as well 
of the general as of the especial laws of development of 
life ; so that thus the guidance of the child, the fostering 
of his development, may receive in these laws their surer 
determinations as well as a higher and firmer foundation, 
the true foundation. 

To the manifold course of development to be seen 
everywhere in Nature and in life, to the course of the gen- 
eral development of the world and life, correspond, as the 
guidance of the child's life, his employment of self, the 
intercourse with him in general, and also in especial the 
developing play and playing with the child which awak- 
ens and promotes the life of the child. Thus, in the pro- 
gressive course of his development the man perceives life 
as it is in himself and in many forms outside of himself, so 
also, as a child, he already perceives his life as life in gen- 
eral in the play and playing, as in the clear mirror and as 
a child finds for himself, first of all in play and by means 
of playing, an educational book opened for his observa- 
tion outside of and around himself, and speaking to him 
in form and by means of form, so also does man at a later 
period find such a book in Nature. 

That the child may be rightly comprehended and 
treated in all his relations to life and to those around him, 
the whole intellectual and spiritual condition of the 
mother after the birth of the child is changed ; her per- 
ceptions and the impressions of the outer world are al- 
tered as well as her bodily condition. This enhanced 
spiritual condition, this higher and more earnest gaze of 



68 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

the mother, directed especially to discovering and pene- 
trating, to perceiving the individual and particular in the 
single and general, and vice versa — this condition of hers 
must now, pre-eminently on account of her child, be just 
as particularly considered and consciously fostered by her- 
self as is the life of the child, and in constant harmony 
with it. 

When the starting point of recognition and knowledge 
— viz., perceiving, noticing, and observing — becomes per- 
ceptible in the child there also begins in the mother the 
power to penetrate into the nature of what is first revealed 
to her, and its effects on herself, as well as to see it in its 
various and close relation to the child, and to act in con- 
formity with this view. 

Many-sided indeed are the observations that have been 
made by others on the physical relations which bind to- 
gether the mother and child, and on the consideration 
and fostering of this joint life ; but by no means as yet, 
and still less when we consider what the subject requires, 
have observations been made on the consideration and 
method of the common, reciprocal, spiritual life between 
mother and child. 

By observing and fostering this spiritual reciprocal 
life between mother and child, and the common life with 
Nature and all, the first play already above given with the 
elastic, colored, and warm ball receives also its deep, true 
significance and its corresponding rank in the occupa- 
tions. It will find a place in the third month of the 
child's life, and may even begin in the second month of 
its existence, but will take its place in the fourth month 
as a definite play, and then go on for a long time through 
the child's life in manifold development, improvement, 
and application, as has been previously intimated. 



PLAY AND PLAYING WITH THE CHILD. 69 

But soon such a simple body, alike in all its parts, 
with its regular, more quiet movement, no longer pleases 
the child ; but rather a purely opposite body, which not 
only quickly and unexpectedly passes from a condition of 
rest into the opposite, and thereby also makes itself espe- 
cially known through noise, sound, and tone, as it were 
through speech, will now more enchain the attention of 
the child. 

Here is now the point where, as the play with the 
child assumes quite another form, so also does the play- 
thing itself ; instead of the smooth, soft, silently moving 
ball, is employed the hard, rolling sphere, and the cube, 
uniting in itself more outward manifoldness, and so more 
liable to produce noise by its movement as a plaything for 
the child. 



VII. 

THE SPHERE AND THE CUBE. THE SECOND PLAYTHING 
OF THE CHILD. 

(See Plate II.) 

During the second half of the first year, when the 
child begins already definitely to employ himself, the 
sphere and cube will, in consequence of the just-mentioned 
properties, frequently give the child more pleasure than 
the ball ; only the child will also retain for the ball as his 
beloved plaything an uninterrupted affection. 

The sphere and cube as solids are in respect to their 
form pure opposites — that is, as they are in themselves 
similarly bodies, so are they externally opposite ; thus they 
are opposite yet alike. The sphere can be considered as 
the material expression of pure movement ; the cube as 
the material expression of complete rest. The [soft] ball 
being also at once more movable [pliable] in itself, ap- 
pears then, as it were, as uniting, connecting both; as 
one can easily make the form of the cube perceptible by 
a not too elastic ball, but, on the other hand, such a ball 
can be easily brought back to the form of the sphere. 

The sphere and cube, therefore, in their oppositeness 
and likeness belong together undivided as a play. Sphere 
and cube contain a relation to one another as unity in 
singleness, to unity in manifoldness, or it may also be 
said, as manifoldness in unity to unity in manifoldness, 



\ 



THE SPHERE AND THE CUBE. 71 

or as heart to intellect. Since, now, these two tendencies 
in the development of the soul and the power of the soul 
early show themselves in the child, so are the sphere and 
cube also to be given to him unseparated for play — un- 
separated although alternately brought into use in and by 
means of the play. To give and bring the two separately 
as playthings and in play before the child who is to be 
developed intellectually and spiritually would be, or at 
least appear, as if one should separate feeling and thought, 
sensation and discernment, mind and spirit, from one an- 
other, or indeed cultivate one at the expense of the other, 
and therefore subordinate the one to the other. But they 
must be cultivated at the same time, and they belong to- 
gether inasmuch as the two in common make up a unity, 
or rather a trinity, if taken with the active life (the repre- 
sentation or the deed) — that is, the doing. 

We have already recognized and stated the importance 
of rightly comprehending the child even from his first ap- 
pearance on earth and in the course of his cultivation, as 
well as in his nature and in his relations to his surround- 
ings, especially in his relation to the world and to God ; 
and it is by no means unimportant for parents and child, 
and first of all for child and mother, to see in what rela- 
tion the child's plaything and play appears to himself, to 
his nearest surroundings, to Nature, and to God — to all 
life. 

Peace and joy, health and fullness of life accrue to the 
child when his play, like his general development, is in 
harmony with the all-life. 

All the plays and employments which have been 
planned and carried out by us with the second gift, and 
first of all with the sphere and cube, have their founda- 
tion, as we have shown in the case of the ball, in the effort 



72 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

to satisfy this harmony, and to meet the requirements of 
all that has been intimated in this reference. There will 
here be given a few more examples, as hints for the use 
of the sphere and cube as the second plaything of the 
child. They are connected with the two-fold phenome- 
non in the nursery, or rather in the first child-life, that 
is seen when mothers and careful nurses are employed in 
soothing the restless child, vaguely striving for definite 
and satisfactory outward activity, and hence also for rest ; 
now through the movement of the movable, now through 
the repose of the stationary, repeatedly presented to the 
child's senses. 

The free, constantly circling movement early gives the 
children great pleasure, and truly from a deep foundation 
in soul and life ; but it appears especially clear with the 
sphere when, as was before mentioned in respect to the 
ball, the sphere is constantly made to move round in the 
hollow of the hand, or in both hands held closely to- 
gether in the form of a plate, or yet better of a saucer 
by slow constant changing of the center of gravity. 

But the sound is a yet higher sign of life to the child, 
as he then, and also later, likes to lend speech to all dumb 
things ; therefore he also desires to hear sound and speech 
from everything, at least by means of everything and at 
the same time with everything. The child wishes and 
hopes unconsciously to himself to receive through the 
accompanying word and through the simultaneous tone 
knowledge and explanation of each thing and of its life 
and meaning, especially in reference to himself (the child). 

We have therefore attempted, in this second gift of the 
means of play and occupation, to indicate by movement 
and word this connection of life and things, the reciprocal 
life between child and plaything ; and this so much the 



THE SPHERE AND THE CUBE. 73 

more as by using the gift in this way the hearing capacity 
of the child is generally wholly developed, and his speak- 
ing capacity begins to develop. We do not, however, wish 
by this hint to have it understood that these are the 
best, still less the only words, that can be employed with 
change of movement. We rather believe and wish that 
words might be found capable of being sung and yet bet- 
ter suited to the end in view, more closely uniting the 
child and play, yet more fully comprising the life of the 
child and the object of play, and that such words may be 
kindly communicated to us for the better fostering of the 
child's life and given wider circulation. 

The sphere, therefore, as above stated, moves in the 
hollow of the hand or in a saucer. The motherly feeling 
which invests all with life, prompts the utterance of that 
which the mother's mouth, infusing a higher life, now 
sings to her beloved child, lending to the sphere tone, 
speech, and song, and therefore a full expression of life, 
as if it were an actual living being, thus : 

Around, around ; 
How happy now am I ! 

Around, around ; 
I turn now full of glee. 
Be happy thou, like me. 

As now this shows the constant movement of the 
sphere around a point outside of itself with a simulta- 
neous movement around its own center (thus a double 
movement), so the constantly recurring movement of the 
sphere around its own middle line or axis can also be rep- 
resented if the sphere, hanging by a doubled string in the 
left hand, is quickly turned around its own axis by the 
fingers of the right hand ; the doubled string is in this 
way twisted tightly together, and, by slowly drawing the 



74 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

two threads apart with the thumbs and forefingers of the 
two hands and again letting them run together, the sphere 
is kept constantly in an alternating movement, now to the 
right, now to the left. The sphere now again expresses 
itself to the child visibly through its appearance, but also 
audibly through the mouth of the mother ; this audible 
expression arouses more thoroughly the senses and life of 

the child : 

I turn and wind, and, as I go, 
The sphere in form I always show. 

Even these two simple movements not only make a 
striking impression on the children, who are as yet simple 
and unspoiled, in the second half of the first year of their 
life, especially, as already observed, toward the close of 
this year, but joyously enchain the attention and rouse 
the life of the child. 

It seems thus to be proved, by the expressions of the 
child even at this age, how important it is for the child's 
inner development, as well as for his whole life, that the 
deep and firm impression of the self-contained, of the 
in-itself-reposing, be made upon the child by the specta- 
cle of the sphere in the most different positions — that is, 
in and during movement. It is also important that he 
should perceive very precisely and definitely the difference 
between sphere and cube, since it is quite an essential 
distinction between the two that the first appears always 
as a sphere in all positions and with the most various 
movements ; while the second, in different positions and 
yet more with different kinds of movements, makes each 
time an entirely different, always changing impression. 

It may here be merely mentioned how the sphere illus- 
trates, indeed, almost all the exercises, plays, and percep- 
tions which can be performed with the ball ; although 



THE SPHERE AND THE CUBE. ^^ 

on account of the greater weight and hardness of the 
sphere very many of the exercises, etc., are more definitely 
and clearly shown. Also, on account of the greater noise 
and the other properties which are especially connected 
with the rolling plays of the sphere, the play with it be- 
longs yet more to the floor of the room on which the child, 
sitting upon his quilt, can even now already employ him- 
self more independently and voluntarily. So, therefore, 
from this point of view also, the sphere forms the natural 
advance step in the series of playthings which corresponds 
with the advancing development of the child. 

As it was now assumed and set forth that with the 
beginning of the play with the sphere even the hearing 
capacity of the child in general is also developed, and his 
capacity for speech begins already to unfold, thoughtful 
mothers and nurses can enter into a certain reciprocal 
speech with the child by definite questions ; for example : 

" What does the sphere do ? ^' " It dances." 

" But what does the sphere do now ? " " It swings." 

" Who dances ? " " Who swings ? " 

" Shall the sphere also rock ? " 

Joyous assent takes the place of the words in the be- 
ginning, as, on the other hand, joyous expectation and de- 
, termined desire more and more awaken and develop the 
capacity for speech ; and so it is highly important that 
the fostering and the watching of this capacity be more 
and more definitely and consciously drawn out with the 
play, and especially that the child be early accustomed to 
designate correctly and precisely, as well as to clearly per- 
ceive and comprehend everything. The life of the child 
will through all this become so much the more a symmet- 
rical life developed on all sides. 

The cube, as the pure opposite of the sphere, replaces 



76 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

the manifoldness of the latter's movements, tlie mani- 
foldness of its use in play (which is caused by the facility 
with which the sphere can be moved), by its [angular] 
form, by the heterogeneousness of its properties, and espe- 
cially by the new ways of perception into which it inducts 
the child. 

All this, however, makes the play quite a different one, 
and the expression of the play is likewise different. 

As the cube appears to be the several-sided realization 
of the plane surface, so also it requires a plane on which 
to stand. As the sphere only needs a point for its sup- 
port, so the cube requires a surface, or, what is the same, 
several points which lie in a plane. While the sphere can 
be easily moved by the slightest touch, the cube stands 
firm, or one is obliged to shove, draw, or throw it to 
make it move on. 

In order now, in the beginning of the play with tlie 
sphere, to make this oppc>siteness between sphere and cube 
perceptible to the child, who is now instinctively seek- 
ing the perception of th(5 firm and unmoved, the mother 
now places the cube firmlly before the child, and says, as it 
were, to the cube, and esliorting it : 

There, now, stan^d firm ! 
Stand firm ! stand firm 1 

(See Plate II, No. 3.) C»r, 

We want to see you ; stand still and calm ; 
You may trust us to do no harm. 

We consider it, as prciviously stated, in the highest de- 
gree important that thi s co-operating, peculiarly inward 
harmony between the child and the surrounding world be 
early produced by tone and glance ; for otherwise the 
child becomes sooner conscious of oppositeness and sepa- 



THE SPHERE AND THE CUBE. 77 

ration than of mutuality and union. But all opposite- 
ness and separation should appear to man (for the found- 
ing of his peaceful relation with all and the increasing 
of his powers of action) only on the ground of original 
union, as development and methodical arrangement. This 
trust which leads to union can not be too early fostered, 
since from it self-confidence proceeds at a later period. 
It must be the task of all educators to foster, even in 
earliest childhood, this confidence in a spiritual as well 
as in a corporeal sense, in accordance with the whole of 
Nature, and, indeed, of the world. 

The mother now takes one of the child's fingers, or 
one of his little hands, and tries by slight gradual pressure 
to push the cube away, but so that the cube does not move. 
The mother now tries to make the child notice this by say- 
ing to him at the same time : 

The cube will do just what we say, 
And in its place will quiet stay. 
Or, 

Yes, the cube in place will stay ; 
We can not now push it away. 

But finally the mother overcomes the gravity of the 
cube, and pushes it away with the child's hand and fingers, 
expressing the child's feeling by singing : 

Too long in one place do not stay, 
But let us now push you away. 
Or, 

Do not too long in one place stay, 
But hasten now again away. 

Here is now found the application of what has been 
repeatedly demanded— viz., that as much as possible, and 
wherever it is possible, the child's strength, although yet 
feeble, and his slight activity, be drawn into the play, so 



78 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

that his limbs may be trained into use, his strength be 
exercised and increased, and that he may himself experi- 
ence and perceive much directly by means of and in his 
own activity. What richness and what manifoldness of 
development the thoughtful mother and careful nurse can 
now arouse in the child, even by means of these few repre- 
sentations ! The quiet, firm, sure standing on a relatively 
larger surface ; the filling of space by each object ; heavi- 
ness, which is expressed by pressure ; the final overcoming 
of heaviness (gravity) ; and the possibility of moving away 
the body by the use of a proportionally greater strength. 
The perception of all these and many other facts, show- 
ing themselves merely as changing phenomena in oft- 
recurring repetition, will give pleasure even to the child 
who is scarcely half a year, or at least not a whole year 
old, especially when the play is placed in intimate con- 
nection with the child's life, and with his impulse to ac- 
tivity. So, for example, placing the cube on the flattened 
palm of the child's hand, and singing. 

Cube presses down your hand, my dear ; 
Press it, or it will fall, I fear. 

Or, conversely clasping the child's hand round the sphere 
or cube, and holding it fast, the mother raises the child's 
little arm thus into the air so that the closed hand which 
is soon to be opened is turned downward, now making 
him remark, in any childish way, the holding fast by 
hand and finger of the cube or sphere as she, singing, 
says to him : 

Your hand is closed the sphere (or cube) around, 
And so it falls not to the ground. 

Now requiring the child to open his hand, when the 
sphere (or cube) drops from it : 



Or, 



THE SPHERE AND THE CUBE. 79 

Cube (or sphere) to the ground will quickly fall 
If by the hand not held at all. 

The cube (or the sphere) will surely fall 
If not held up at all. 



These plays, or, if you prefer to call them so, these 
childish trifles^ could be manifoldly increased, especially 
by connecting them ; only one must not willfully go on 
with this or that play in opposition to the wish of the 
child, but always follow the child's circumstances, re- 
quirements, and needs, and his own expressions of life 
and activity. 

Here a phenomenon from the childish world may be 
preserved. The observer of children will often perceive 
how children who are yet very small would like to grasp 
very many and varied things together in their little 
hands, while the hand is too small to be able to clasp 
them all. The mother can then perhaps sing to the child 
in reference to the sphere or the cube : 

The sphere takes up the space, you see, 
So where it is cube can not be. 

Or, about the cube : 

The cube takes up the space, you see, 
So where it is sphere can not be. 

Or, generally : 

Each thing takes its own space, you see, 
So where it is naught else can be. 

The words place or position may be sung instead of 
the word space^ in order to secure variety of sound. 

Also, one can take the sphere and cube at the same 
time in both hands, but changing each now into one, now 
into the other hand. The words already given can be 
sung to the child with this motion also. 



80, PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

We now return to notice the quiet standing of the 
cube on one of its surfaces as soon as it has been placed 
there. 

This play will make a wholly different impression on 
the child (who is still small, though already somewhat 
advanced in ability for noticing and retaining what is 
extraneous to him) if we try to place the cube on one of 
its edges, and the cube, set free, sinks down on the other 
side, since it is impossible for it to retain the middle line, 
or rather the vertical plane. 

Word and tone increase and confirm the impression 
on the child if the attempt and the notice be accompanied 
by the words, for example. 

It totters here, it totters there, 
Too heavy to stand anywhere. 

(See the representation on Plate II, No. 4.) It is diffi- 
cult, indeed, but not impossible, for the cube to stand on 
an edge if it receives anywhere an exterior hold or sup- 
port ; if it — as, for example, in No. 5 — rests with one of 
its surfaces against another surface, and so through fric- 
tion is kept in place. 

Even the child whose capacity for speech is as yet un- 
developed will remark the cause of this ; at least, expe- 
rience has shown us that children of this age drew away 
the holding support, and, as the Cube then fell over, turned 
toward their mother with face and body as in joyous 
triumph. Therefore the mother can now sing to her 
child this : 

Cube can stand on one foot if the right way he'll try. 
Can you see, my baby, the real reason why T 

Or, the cube placed on one of its edges, and with one 
of the other horizontal edges leaning against one side of 



THE SPHERE AND THE CUBE. 81 

the cube box, or something else, so that the cube now 
stands perfectly still, the mother sings to the child ; 

Lean the cube against the wall, 
Then it surely will not fall. 

But the illustrations Nos. 4 and 5 may be connected 
with one another, as is also the case with others. 

" Come, cube, come, stand before baby on one foot." 
" See, baby, it will not stand." And now again singing, 
" It totters here, it totters there," etc. " Now, cube, hold 
fast, that you may not fall." 

The mother gives her aid, the child's activity is en- 
listed and he assists her, so that the cube finally stands 
firm, leaning against something, and, as it were, thus 
clinging to it, and now the mother sings to the child : 

The cube is held up by the wall, 
So it stands firm and does not fall. 

If the mother will attempt to enlist the feeble activity 
of the child with her own in the play, she will soon see 
how the child enjoys his work, though only for the mo- 
ment ; later the work will please him for a longer time, 
and will finally lead to the quiet individual reproduction 
and to the thoughtful individual consideration. 

But now the child again quickly grasps the cube and 
beats with it on the table. The mother takes up at once 
the action of her child, and the effect of that action, 
and gives word and tone to both, since she adds, speak- 
ing in a singing voice : 

Pound ! pound ! pound ! 
By his pounding cube is able 
To make a hole in this hard table ; . 
It does not seem to feel the blow, 
So to another play we'll go. 



82 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Among the many positions of the cube which the 
mother can make use of in playing with her child, there 
remains one, that of attempting to place it before the 
child on one corner and without support ; but the mother 
will still less succeed in this than in placing it unsup- 
ported on an edge, and she therefore sings to her observ- 
ing child : 

On one leg, 

On one leg, 

Cube can not be made 

To stand without aid. 

Now she allows the point of the forefinger of her left 
hand to rest on the upward-turned corner of the cube, 
thus keeps it standing, and says, singing : 

But hold it with a finger light, 

It does not fall, but stands upright. 

But now she tries, by a quickening stroke with the tip 
of a finger of her right hand on one of the free corners 
of the cube, to turn it round on its own axis ; and, turn- 
ing to the child, proceeds to sing : 

And as it pleases, 

It turns round about. , ". 

Now around to the right, 

Now around to the left. 

Now swiftly turns around, around. 

Or she lets the cube itself, as it were, speak to the child, 

by singing : 

On one leg I stand ; and see, 
I turn round so easily. 

(See the illustration on Plate II, Xo. G.) It is not in- 
tended that the impression on the child of the as yet in- 
comprehensible words, and the variety of the positions 
and movements of the cube, should be without abiding 



THE SPHERE AND THE CUBE. 83 

results ; it is always to be remarked, though at first only 
after oft-repeated showing and perception, that the child 
strongly wishes to see its nurse produce now one, now 
another position of the cube ; now one, now another of 
its movements ; and, indeed, how he himself at a later 
period sometimes attempts to produce the movement 
that specially interests him. 

The fact has been already brought forward above that 
the child soon notices what is requisite for the cube's 
standing firmly ; so, too, it will also soon remark what is 
the condition for easy movability ; and though it can not 
indicate these by words, yet the mother will see how the 
child at first tries to fulfill the condition, to give the right 
position, and then to make the corresponding experiment. 
This remark is founded on facts in the life of children. 

Through all that has been done hitherto the child's 
attention has been predominantly called to the object as 
existing, as filling space, and acting, as well as to its posi- 
tion and to the manner in which it fills space, and to the 
mode of its action, but only incidentally to the object as 
being the identical one ; nor yet to the figure and shape, 
nor to the members and parts of the object which ap- 
peared so differently in the different positions of the ob- 
ject. But attention to the form and figure of the object 
can also be utilized for the child in play. 

The importance of the consideration of the presence 
and absence of an object and its utilization for play, and 
in playing with the child, has been already noticed (with 
the ball, see first gift). With this we will now add a con- 
tinuation to the play ; for repeating the same experience 
in different ways with the same object serves to develop 
as well as to strengthen the child. Hence the mother 
hides the cube in her hand while she sings to her child ; 



84 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

I see now the hand alone. 

Where, oh, where can cube be gone f 

The mother thus leads the gaze and attention of the 
child to her hand, which he will therefore watch intently ; 
the gaze, and even the little hand of the child, will make 
an effort to find the cube. As if yielding to this effort, 
the concealing hand opens, and the mother says or sings 

to the child : 

Aha ! aha ! 
My hand has hid the cube with care, 
While you looked for it everywhere. 

See, it is here ! 

Look at it, dear. 

By this play the child is not only again made to notice 
that the cube fills space, but his attention is also called 
to the precise form of the cube ; and he will look at it 
sharply, unconsciously comparing it with the hand, to 
which his eyes were first attracted. But the form of the 
cube appears to him, up to this point, as too large a whole, 
and composed of too many kinds of parts ; the child's view 
of it must therefore be clarified by single perceptions. 

Therefore the mother or nurse clasps the cube again 
in her hand, but so that one surface is still perceptible, 
singing to the child : 

Only one side here you see. 
Where can now the others be ? 

(See Plate II, No. 7.) Or, bringing the child's life into yet 
more intimate connection with the expression of the cube : 
With but one eye cube looks at you, 
And kindly nods, " How do you do i " 

The child now attempts by a look or action to open 
the mother's hand, and she sings to him : 

Though one side was all you saw, 
Yet my hand shut up five more. 



THE SPHERE AND THE CUBE. 85 

Or, in reference to the above-mentioned second percep- 
tion : 

Cube wanted so much to please you, dear, 
That from its hiding it came out here. 

Now the mother again incloses the cube in her hand, 
but lets two surfaces be seen, and sings : 

Two sides are all that here you see ; 
But where can now the others be 1 

(See illustration, Plate II, No. 8.) Or, while the mother 
takes the child's hand and fingers and softly strokes the 
two surfaces of the cube with them, she sings to the child : 

Stroke cube's two cheeks with fingers light, 
For mother's hand now holds it tight. 

And now opening the hand : 

See, my hand was shut round four, 
Though two sides were all you saw. 

Or, in reference to the second perception : 

Cube to my baby will gladly go 
As soon as we let it loose — just so. 

Again closing the hand, and turning the cube in it so as 
to show the greatest possible number — which, however, 
is only three — of the cube's surfaces at once, the mother, 
while turning it, makes it say to the child : 

I twist and turn, go high and low. 
Three sides at once is all I show. • 

(See illustration, Plate II, No. 9.) Since misinterpreta- 
tions can not be carefully enough avoided, the observa- 
tion should be made that the expressions of number are 
here for the child only a difference of sound for different 
appearances of the object. 

By means of the above-mentioned play, now wholly, 



86 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

now partly hiding tlie cube, now wholly, now partly 
again showing it, the child will receive the preliminary 
impression, to be raised later and at the suitable time by 
look and word to a clear perception, to a complete com- 
prehension of the cube, the normal form of a great part 
of all that is solid and occupies space. 

What has been up to this point brought forward here 
in a certain succession will of course in the child's play 
and the events of the nursery and at the children's play- 
table be arranged in a different order, and so it should be. 
But mothers and nurses should have within them the 
clear perception and deep consciousness not only that a 
definite simple laiv exists behind these varied and acci- 
dental plays, and makes itself known in them, but they 
should also know 2vliat law thus exists and Tioio it makes 
itself known. The child of humanity intrusted to them 
for his holy nurture will thus, through silently verified 
perception, through the strength, action, and inner co- 
herence of the mind, come (within itself, of its own 
accord, and at its own time, but certainly at the right 
time) to the silent premonition that behind the varied 
phenomena of life, apparently accidentally thrown to- 
gether, rests quiet and hidden the great law, as simple 
as it is clear, of these phenomena. 

Man will later so much the more anticipate, find, and 
recognize this law of life as it is possible already in child- 
hood, the play years of his life, and indeed by this play, 
to bring before him certain perceptions in their inner 
coherence, in order thus to make the law behind them 
shine through them more brightly, and to awaken the 
premonition of this law, even in the child as well as later 
to awaken premonition of the law of life in the more 
grown-up man. 



THE SPHERE AND THE CUBE. 87 

The previous plays with the cube have taken it up — 
including simple, passing, unessential movements with it 
— in the condition of rest, as already mentioned in refer- 
ence to its space and form ; but it gives the child yet 
more pleasure to see it produced in its freeer, more chang- 
ing movement. 

The simplest is the swinging, and this too in the first 
position, where one surface is below and another above ; 
in other words, where the string by which the cube swings 
is fastened in the center of one of its surfaces. 

The mother lets the cube thus swing slowly, and, 
infusing her song into the life, the attention, the feel- 
ing of the child, in order to bring the movement near 
to and into sympathy with him, says, singing : 

Swinging, swinging ! 

By my swinging 

Pleasure bringing ! 
Swinging, swinging ! 

(See illustration, Plate II, No. 10, and compare, in respect 
to position, with No. 3.) Now swinging the cube in an- 
other position — viz., that in which one edge appears as 
the bottom, and another as the top. 

(See illustration No. 11, and compare, in respect to 
position, with Nos. 4 and 5.) For a connection with life, 
as before, the mother can sing to her child as if the cube 
itself were singing the words : 

Hung by one edge I swing, 
Tied to a long, long string. 
I like to swing Just here, 
Now far from you, now near. 

Just in the same manner swinging the cube in the 
third position, in which one corner is indicated as the 
bottom and the opposite as the top, the longest diagonal 



88 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

line of the cube appears the axis. (See No. 12, and com- 
pare with illustration No. 6.) The cube says to the child, 
through the mouth of the mother : 

Swinging by a corner so, 

Very long I seem to grow. 

Attentive nurses can here easily observe how even the 
smallest child, for whom these plays are intended, with- 
out having the slightest notion of the meaning of the 
words, perceives the difference between the appearance 
and the real shape of the cube — that is, does not leave 
this difference unnoticed. 

It is early important for the human being, especially 
as a child, that the essential perceptions of things should 
be repeated frequently under different forms, and, if pos- 
sible^ in a particular order, so that the child may early 
learn to distinguish the essential from the unessential 
and accidental, and the abiding from the changing. Un- 
noticed and unrecognized though the phenomena are to 
the child, yet the impression of them will be certain and 
firm, and this so much the more when the repetition has 
been precise and clear. 

Twice already, therefore, the cube has been brought 
before the child in this manner in its three different 
and essential positions, namely : where it rests on a sur- 
face (compare Plate II, Nos. 3 and 10), or on an edge 
(compare Nos. 4, 5, and 11), or on a corner (compare 
Nos. 6 and 12). In the first case a surface transverse 
line or surface axis, in the second case an edge-diagonal 
line or edge axis, and in the third case a corner diagonal 
or corner axis of the cube comes out more prominently 
than the others. The aim of the subsequent play exer- 
cises is yet more to confirm and render prominent these 
perceptions. 



THE SPHERE AND THE CUBE. 89 

To this end is added to the two stronger sticks de- 
signed for later use, a third thinner stick, which can be 
thrust through the cube in each of the three principal 
directions in which it is pierced. Thus the stick forms, 
first, a lengthened surface axis of the cube, extending an 
equal distance beyond the two parallel surfaces. While 
now the one end of the stick rests on the surface of the 
table, and the other end between the thumb and the bent 
forefinger of the left hand, the finger tips of the right 
hand constantly move and turn the cube around on its 
axis by means of this upper end of the stick. The cube 
showing its now altered appearance owing to the turning 
movement, says, as it were, challenging the child ; 

Round and round now make me go, 
I to you a roller show. 

(See Plate II, No. 13.) 

The movement itself draws the gaze and attention of 
the child, but still more does the wholly new form and 
figure in which the cube appears by means of this move- 
ment. It is the turning movement around its own axis, 
which extends the corners into circular lines, and the 
edges into a cylindrically curved surface ; and thus says : 

As your fingers turn me here, 
Corners, edges disappear. 

In the same manner one of the edge axes can be drawn 
out, and, as it were, lengthened by the stick, since the 
same stick is thrust through the cube from one edge to 
the opposite one, and then the cube is turned around its 
new axis. (See No. 14.) The cube sings to the child : 

If round and round you make me go, 
A pretty ring to you I'll show ; 
And if you like this little play, 
I'll play it at your wish alway. 



90 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Finally, rendering prominent the corner diagonal or 
corner axis, then turning as before, and singing to the 
child for the cube (see illustration No. 15) : 

Turn me by the corners two, 
Many things I show to you. 
Do you like this turning play f 
Happy are we, then, to-day. 

In the preceding play the cube was indirectly set in 
movement by the hand by means of the string or stick. 
But the cube, like the sphere, can also, hanging by the 
string, be put into a rotary motion directly by the hand. 
(See Plate II, No. 16.) 

What the child thus notices is put into words by the 
mouth of the mother : 

In turning the cube, if your fingers are fleet, 

The cube, as it turns, makes a round ring complete. 

Or the cube speaks in this way itself : 

As strongly now your fingers tap, 
I gladly turn at every rap. 

If the double string by which the cube hangs has 
been twisted sufiQciently tight, the player lays the cube on 
the table, takes with each hand one of the two ends of the 
string, raises the cube from the table, and lets the string 
untwist, accelerating this untwisting at the same time a 
little by slowly drawing apart the two ends of the string 
in a horizontal direction, so as to keep the two ends tense. 

If the string has now untwisted wholly, the swinging 
of the cube will still continue, and the string will again 
twist up in the opposite direction. In order to promote 
this action the two ends of the string, and hence the 
finger tips of both hands, must now again be allowed to 
come close together till the string has twisted itself in 



THE SPHERE AND THE CUBE. 91 

the opposite direction. But when this is now accom- 
plished, and the cube begins to turn back again, the slow 
horizontal drawing of both ends of the string must also 
begin again ; by which means is produced a constant 
twisting and untwisting, a constantly alternating turn- 
ing, now to the right, now to the left, which can be con- 
tinued as long as it is agreeable to the child and to the 
one who plays with it. Therefore the mother lets the 
cube express by words what the child perceives in the 
cube as appearance and action : 

I always, always turn around, 

To right or left as string is wound. 

(Compare illustration, Plate II, N"o. 2.) 

What was done with the cube hanging by the center 
of one of its surfaces, or in its surface position, can also 
be done with the cube hanging by one of its edges or in 
its edge position, and also by the cube hanging by one of 
its corners or in its corner position ; so that here again, 
also, by a constantly alternating rotary motion, the cube 
is brought before the child in its three principal points 
of view, as was further shown by the directions for the 
ball play, in which also the rolling, gliding, and rocking 
movements were considered. 

Although the production of the manifold relations and 
activities in general, in which the sphere and cube, each 
by itself, can appear in play, and as a plaything for your 
child, is now concluded, yet it by no means exhausts the 
number of illustrations, which also are not exhausted in 
the directions for the play. Many things in life yet re- 
main to be found and to be presented with reference to 
these illustrations. 

As hitherto sphere and cube, singly, have been em- 
ployed as playthings for the child, the two can also be 



92 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

used together in several ways for this purpose. We men- 
tion here only one of these combinations as the most im- 
portant — viz., that the cube rests with great difficulty, 
and perhaps never, on the sphere, but the sphere, on the 
contrary, rests easily on the cube. 

This latter combination, considered as abiding and 
firm, shows something quite essential — viz., how the 
sphere alone has, as it were, in its form the embodied ex- 
pression of the easily movable ; and, on the contrary, the 
cube alone has in its form the embodied expression of the 
firm, the resting ; so both appear in the last-named com- 
bination as the embodied expression of the animate, of 
the living thing ; and of the living thing acting spon- 
taneously, indeed even remotely pointing to the corporeal 
expression of man himself. 

Early in life the child delights in round and varied 
pebbles ; he seeks and collects them ; he takes pleasure in 
the rectilinear and straight-edged bodies, especially those 
which are cubical or beam-shaped ; seeks to arrange the 
former one upon another and side by side ; carries and 
handles the latter like a doll. If, however, the spherical 
is joined to the oblong body, then it receives immediately 
the spatial expression and the significance of the living 
being, and, in fact, of the human living being. 

I will venture to assert that it seems as if the child, 
even at an early age, dimly anticipates in himself the na- 
ture and the destiny of man — to analyze and adjust in 
himself and in life the opposites of the abiding and qui- 
escent and the movable and moving ; and always, while 
adjusting, to represent them in life. 

The connection of the spherical and rectangular has 
for the child the expression of the human so much the 
more as the beam-shaped body in its derivation proceeds 



THE SPHERE AND THE CUBE. 93 

from the cubical and rectangular to the oblong, tablet 
forms, or with sides sloping toward one another down- 
ward. But with the delight of the child in its little doll, 
the dim and transferred perception of inner life, or rather 
the direct feeling of the individual life, is certainly more 
predominant than the external perception that compares 
the real baby with the doll ; for, even if the child has 
never been wrapped in swaddling clothes, and has never 
seen a child so wrapped, it will yet enjoy its infant doll 
when dressed in that manner. The joy of the child in 
its little doll has thus a far deeper, inward, and spiritual 
human foundation than is generally supposed — a founda- 
tion by no means resting merely in the external resem- 
blance and similarity of form. Therefore this joy of the 
little child in its dolly is to be held sacred, and thought- 
fully fostered. Many human traits develop themselves in 
the child by its play with the doll, because thereby its 
own nature will become at some time objective, and hence 
recognizable to the child and to the thoughtful, observing 
parent and nurses. Hence there makes itself visible later, 
by and through this, the spiritual difference, the differ- 
ence of vocation and life between the boy and girl. The 
boy will be longer delighted with the play with the sphere 
and cube as separate and opposite things, while the little 
girl is, on the contrary, early delighted with the doll, 
which inwardly unites in itself the opposites of the sphere 
and cube. The inner significance of this fact is, that the 
boy early presages and feels his destiny — to command and 
to penetrate outer Nature ; and the girl anticipates and 
feels her destiny — to foster Nature and life. This comes 
out yet more at a later time. As the union of the spherical 
and angular is, especially to the girl, a doll, a play-child, 
so is the mother's yardstick or the father's cane for the 



94 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

boy a^ horse, a hobbyhorse ; the latter expresses the manly 
destiny of the boy, that of invading and ruling life ; the 
former expresses the womanly destiny of the girl, the 
fostering of life. 

We feel ourselves forced to ask parents and nurses 
to consider in this way at an early period all phenomena 
in the life of the child, all its life indications in reference 
to its innermost and spiritual nature. Happiness and 
blessedness to the children with whom, and joy and peace 
to the parents by whom this is done ! One does not 
reply, How could such contrasted ideas and such motives 
as those cited, which only come into the comparing, con- 
sidering, mature thinking mind, even exist in the child's 
dreamlike condition ? We here repeat once more what 
we have already said elsewhere, Did it not lie in the 
child, did it not live and work in the child, did it not 
already define the child's life, it could by no means come 
out from it at a later period. Does not the whole tree 
life — indeed, the whole vegetable life — work already in 
each germinating seed of the tree ? So, also, in each 
active child, in each activity of the child, works already 
the totality of human life — indeed, of the life of humanity. 

We must stop here with this hint concerning the sig- 
nificance of the connection of the sphere and the cube, 
of the spherical and the oblong angular forms, and must 
keep what is further to be said, especially in reference to 
the development of art proper, which realizes its ideals in 
corporeal forms, till the time when we shall speak of the 
doll and the hobbyhorse as the first plays of the awaken- 
ing life of the boy and girl. 

After this digression, though it is only an apparent 
one, we return to the play with sphere and cube, which is 
next in order. Would that what is here expressed might 



THE SPHERE AND THE CUBE. 95 

contribute to realize the purpose so highly important for 
the whole life and the clear development of man — viz., 
to consider the life of the child and the beginnings of 
its life in its own true, deep significance and subjectivity, 
as well as in its relation to the totality of life ; to consider 
childhood as the most important stage of the total de- 
velopment of man and of humanity — indeed, as a stage 
of the development of the spiritual as such, and of the 
godlike in the earthly and human. 

In the plays which have been discussed the cube was 
mostly introduced not only as speaking itself, but also as 
speaking of itself to the child ; this is a childlike, true 
interpretation of the phenomena of Nature, reality, and 
life, according to which each object speaks constantly by 
its qualities and attributes to man, and still more to the 
child, although in mute speech, in order, as it were, to 
link its life with that of the child. It is therefore quite 
essential for the outer, and especially for the inner spirit- 
ual and intellectual development of man, that the sur- 
roundings should speak to him hy their qualities and 
attributes so as to he understood ; and besides, that man, 
as a child, should be early led not only to understand this 
mute speech, but even to make it audible to himself and 
others. Therefore, the careful mother, wholly loyal to 
her human feeling, seeks early to give the true, the com- 
prehensive expression of tone, word, and song to this 
dumb though visible speech, and the same is done by the 
sympathizing nurses. The mute, quiet, still life may by 
this approach the child by tone and speech, so that he 
may more and more find, feel, and recognize himself ob- 
jectively in it. And so his play, and through the play his 
surroundings, as well as, last of all, Nature and the uni- 
verse, may become to him a mirror of himself and of his 



96 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

life. But this can not be too early begun, if the child, 
immediately from the beginning of his self-developing 
life feeling, is to grow up in this correlation and ex- 
changing comparison with Nature and life, and, indeed, 
with the whole universe ; and as he impresses his life 
upon external forms, he may so also perceive his life 
again therein. 

It is quite essential for careful and thinking nurses 
to consider yet further (and on that account it was ren- 
dered prominent with the ball as the first gift) that the 
sphere and cube, and the expositions of them, only give 
and are only to give the norm ; only the normal funda- 
mental and symbolic perceptions and representations 
which can also be symbolized in the same way with other 
objects which the surroundings of life offer, and can be 
found in them, should be found in them and be explained 
by them. But it is highly important for the human 
being that early in life, and even as a child, something 
normal be given to him, as it were, as a connecting and 
comparing measure extraneous to himself (in reference 
to himself, to life, and to the correlation of the two), 
first, in order that he may recognize a generality and a 
unity for all that is particular and individual ; next, that 
he may learn to judge of the one by the other. For it is 
impossible for man to grasp each individual thing in all 
its relations. They do not all alike offer themselves fun- 
damentally and on all sides to perception, recognition, 
and insight. But if he now tliorougMy penetrates and 
comprehends one single tiling^ he will through this at 
the same time also learn in a measure to understand all 
other things. Thus, if man comprehends fundamentally, 
and in all its relations, for example, the ball, the sphere, 
the cube (which ?ire indeed really only one in three), as 



THE SPHERE AND THE CUBE. 97 

representative, as the norm and fundamental perception 
of all that occupies space, and of what is given and de- 
manded thereby, he will thus become capable of recog- 
nizing, observing, and handling easily also all other things, 
even that which stands alone yet is the same in all its 
bearings and relations, for he learns to see the manifold 
in the single, plurality in unity, and vice versa. 

The giving, possessing, and retaining a normal form 
which is as simple as it is comprehensive and all-sided, in 
which he can easily again recognize every other, is what 
is now still so greatly lacking to man from an early period 
on through life, less as a means of perception and instruc- 
tion than as a means of all-sided development and self- 
education. 

I will give here a few hints as an indication of the nor- 
mal character of the sphere and cube, and how the different 
objects surrounding the child should be treated accordingly. 

A book lies on the table before the child. It can be 
laid, now on one of its two sides, now placed on one of 
its shortest edges, now on the long edge. In each of 
these positions there are now again three different posi- 
tions ; as, for example, in the first, either the back, the 
long edge, or one of the short edges turn toward the 
child. Likewise, if it stands on one of the shortest sides, 
either the back, the long edge, or one of the broad sur- 
faces or covers can be turned toward the child. 

To each of these positions, as to every other, the 
mother and the adult who plays with the child can, as 
before, now immediately give speech and significance — 
for example, to the book with its back and title turned to 
the child : 

The title on my back will tell 
What is inside. Look at it well. 



98 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

A rectangular box placed on one of its corners can be 
turned around the corner diagonal as an axis : 
You must on one corner now turn as I will, 
For quite long enough on the ground you lay still. 

So the thoughtful mother proceeds with all that she 
brings near to her child, and so all that the cube united 
in itself can be again perceived separately in different 
objects surrounding the child. 

So single perceptions of the most different objects can 
alternate with normal perceptions of the cube and sphere, 
as is given and required by life, and by the moment at 
which it is done. And again, the various single represen- 
tations taken disconnectedly, if the quietness of the child 
permit, can alternate with the carrying out of regular 
though small series — for example, Nos. 7, 8, 9 ; Nos. 3, 4, 
5, 6 ; Nos. 27, 28. The child will always, by degrees and 
in the progressive course of its own development, in play 
and by means of the play, come to the premonition, per- 
ception, and finally to the recognition of unity ^ constancy^ 
and conformity to law — yes, of the similarity of the laius 
of all development. But this is essentially necessary for 
man, as is later on the recognition and application thereof 
in his own life for the attainment of the aim and object 
of his life. As it is important for him that he himself in 
play, even as a child, by play should perceive within and 
without how from unity proceed manifokhiess, plurality ^ 
and totality, and how plurality a7id manifoldness finally 
are found again in and resolve themselves into unity, and 
should find this out in his life. 

The representation of other objects by the sphere and 
cube has indeed been already connected in many ways 
with what has been hitherto brought forward. However, 
there are still very many perceptions which there was no 



THE SPHERE AND THE CUBE. 99 

opportunity to mention in the foregoing pages. So, for 
example, the cube can be now a table on which some- 
thing is placed for the child. Again, it can be a stool on 
which the mother places her feet ; again, a chair on which 
she sits with the child ; again, the hearth on which some- 
thing is to be cooked for the child. Again, it may be a 
a chest in which something is inclosed; now a bureau 
which has been shut up ; now a house with its door shut ; 
again, a well which has been covered ; finally, a stove 
which has been set up, or a bale of goods which has been 
unloaded. Then, another time, it may be a hammer with 
which something is to be struck for the child ; once more, 
the stick thrust into the edge, a broad hoe ; another time, 
the stick thrust into the corner, a pointed hoe with which 
a little bed is dug ; finally, a child which turns around ; 
a little girl who dances ; a kitten which wishes to catch 
its own tail. Then, again, a snowball ; an avalanche 
which falls from the roof or the mountain ; a rock which 
breaks off and plunges into the valley ; or, placed on its 
surface with a perpendicular stick on the upper surface, a 
flower pot in which a slender little tree has been planted, 
and innumerable other things. 

The child will be early led through this representation 
to perceive and comprehend one thing under many points 
of view, and different things under one reference, and the 
common and general in and by means of different individ- 
ual things ; and the object will be truly dear to the child 
by the variety which it affords to the child's life, mind, 
and heart. 

Those who have paid attention to this gift, especially 
those who have employed it with the children, will remark 
(what we, therefore, also can not pass over silently) that 
it is actually the inner union of mind and life letween 



100 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

mother and child, between the child and his nurse, which 
gives to this, as well as to all and every play with the 
child, the true life, its genuine deep significance and 
genuine efficiency, which bring forth buds, blossoms, and 
fruit in the child's life. The remark can not escape the 
thoughtful mother, that it is actually a threefold love on 
the part of the mother which so intimately unites her 
with the child, viz., love for the child, love of the means 
of play (the united life in and with the means of play or 
occupation), and love for the great life-whole, of which 
she and the child are both members. In reference to 
the varied manifestation of love, one may express some- 
thing similar on the part of the child, as also even of the 
object of play, the means of play, the latter of which 
may be thus described: The means of play awakens, 
fosters, and promotes the life of the child, thus mutely, 
as it were, making love known to the child. It makes 
perceptible the life and love of the mother who plays 
with the child; and, lastly, that it makes apparent its 
own life, and so, partially, the life of the surrounding 
outer world of which it is a self -active member (Glied- 
ganzes), as the warmth of heart and life, to the child 
which is made glad, joyful, and contented in play and by 
means of the play. 

And so, as an inducement to the consideration of the 
play in question, and of all, especially of the earliest child 
plays, we come to another essential remark : that it is 
actually the degree, the stage of the all-sided inner satis- 
faction of life, mind, and heart, attained by man, which 
determines the keynote, the impress and character of his 
whole future life. 

Thus inner satisfaction, especially contentment of the 
mind, is to be early — yes, very early — confirmed and fos- 



THE SPHERE AND THE CUBE. 101 

tered in the child and secured to him. On this depends 
the entire future with its weal or woe, the whole future 
happiness of the life of man, in so far as it is internal and 
therefore genuine. But the child will certainly attain this 
in a high degree if treated in accordance with his inner- 
most nature, if the child sees the objects surrounding him 
treated in like manner, and especially if the surround- 
ing human beings show themselves consequently satisfied. 
Thus the child at least presages and feels directly the 
trinity, or the reciprocal conditioning of necessity, law, 
and love; and finds later the one in the other and by the 
other, as the true condition of all genuine well-founded 
satisfaction. So now, equipped with this real treasure in 
the heart, man can, if fate should demand it, even in boy- 
hood, and yet more in early youth, be confidently com- 
mitted to the world. For from the satisfaction so deeply 
grounded there develop in him, and through the satis- 
faction are associated with him, all the other feelings 
which bless man— /a^YA, love, and hope ; self-respect and 
the respect of others, as well as the cherishing of others ; 
love of and loyalty to life and vocation ; love to God, to 
Nature, and to humanity, as well as to each individual 
human being as such. 

One of the most especial and essential aims of these 
plays is to foster and strengthen this satisfaction early in 
the- child — to cultivate it for the stability of mind, heart, 
and life, and to give this satisfaction to him as the great- 
est gift for life and on the path of life. But to attain 
this, three things must also be considered here in the 
plays as well as in all dealings with the child and in all 
nurture of his life-tendencies and his tendency to activity 
— first, that it is to be done for the strengthening and 
purifying of the child's life, thus for the union of the 



102 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

child with life and i7i himself ; second, that it be done in 
harmony and union with the means of employment ; and, 
finally, that it be done for a higher union with the col- 
lective life-whole, the aggregate and totality of life, and 
that it bear the definite, unequivocal expression of all 
this. What we called love above appears here under the 
expression union. 

With this purpose, therefore, these and the following 
childish plays (which delight the child, correspond to 
the intellectual needs of the adult, and harmonize with 
life and Nature) originated from a loving impulse, and 
were formed in order early to foster in the child serenity 
of thought and mind, and, on the other hand, early to 
keep surliness, disobligingness, and a gloomy spirit of 
destruction — the tormenting spirits of life, with their 
consequences — far from the child. These tormenting 
spirits are given a domicile, especially where the child 
can not manipulate, or is not permitted to have control 
over, the surrounding objects with his yet weak power ; 
where the child, with the impulse of his life yet unsatis- 
fied, is, as it were, stifled, and in his deathlike weariness 
becomes a burden to himself ; where the child, feeling the 
pressure of this impulse of his life, appears obstinate, and 
even domineering and spiteful. One can not too early 
preserve the child from such phenomena of life, and it 
certainly can be done by a correct comprehension and 
fostering of his impulse to busy himself. 

Since the play with the sphere and ball is intended to 
employ the child from the beginning of his second to the 
conclusion of his third year, but also is yet further pro- 
portionately and correspondingly to employ him, so we 
here only intimate that its use also entirely corresponds 
to the child's capacity for speech, and the course of his de- 



THE SPHERE AND THE CUBE. 103 

velopment of speech in these years. It contains the sim- 
ple words up, down, there, where, how, there, here, etc. 
Then the words lorid, wall, hand, etc., which all lie 
within the compass of the child's present capacity for 
speech, and therefore, as they are clearly spoken before 
the child, can be exactly imitated by him. The stock of 
words embraces objects and also actions and qualities. 
Indeed, the production and use of this play certainly gives, 
in connection with the plays of the first gift, the ball, a 
beautiful point of support to, and point of connection 
with, the equally important consideration of the course of 
the development of speech in the child. 



VIIL 

FIRST REVIEW OF THE PLAY ; OR, THE MEANS OP FOS- 
TERING THE child's impulse TO EMPLOY HIMSELF. 

Before we advance to the further development of 
the means of child play and occupation now lying before 
us, and before the variety of these means is too much 
divided and scattered, it appears to us above all impor- 
tant once more to see precisely what has been up to this 
point set forth in words in this connection. For, in all 
to which man's activity lays claim, especially in human 
concerns, the clear comprehension of the unity, as it were, 
of the nucleus and germ of life, and then the entire com- 
pass of its variety, plurality, and totality, in their develop- 
ment from unity, in accordance with the laws of life, are 
above all important. Therefore we stated, even in the 
first presentation of the plan of this undertaking, that 
always in the progressive course of the carrying out of 
the plays, their inner, vital coherence among themselves 
as well as with the life and course of development of the 
child and with his surroundings (his environment), should 
be also shown. Although this has already been done on 
each occasion in detail, yet we will here once more take 
a comprehensive survey of the whole in general, because 
it is in the highest degree important for the healthy, and 
particularly for the spiritual, development of the child, 



FIRST REVIEW OF THE PLAY. 105 

and for the clear and sure fostering of his life as a whole, 
on the part of the parents. 

The first object through which we sought to develop 
from without the total activities of the child, in which we 
sought to unite them externally, was the lall ; and, in 
contrast with it, as fixed forms evolved from it, the sphere 
and the cude. 

In and by means of the ball (as an object resting in 
itself, easily movable, especially elastic, bright, and warm) 
the child perceives his life, his power, his activity, and 
that of his senses, at the first stage of his consciousness, 
in their unity, and thus exercises them. 

By the sphere and cube, on the other hand, the child 
becomes himself yet more definitely conscious of his 
senses, and also especially of the use of his limbs, exer- 
cising them with and by means of these objects. 

The ball is therefore to the child a representative or 
a means of perception of a single effect caused by a single 
power. 

The sphere is to the child the representative of every 
isolated simple unity ; the child gets a hint in the sphere 
of the manif oldness as still abiding in unity. 

The ctibe is to the child the representative of each con- 
tinually developing manifold body. The child has an 
intimation in it of the unity which lies at the foun- 
dation of all manifoldness, and from which the latter 
proceeds. 

In sphere and cube, considered in comparison with 

each other, is presented in outward view to the child the 

resemblance betiueen opposites, which is so important for 

his whole future life, and which he perceives everywhere 

around himself, and multifariously within himself. 

But now as man both unites the single, which finds its 
10 



106 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

limits in itself, and the manifold, which is constantly de- 
veloping, and reconciles them within himself as oppo- 
sites, there results also to the child from both, from 
sphere and cube outwardly united, the expression of 
the animate and active, especially as embodied in the 
doll. 

On the one hand, the child therefore demands the re- 
combining of the separated, the reuniting of the disunited. 
But, on the other hand, he also demands the separation 
of the combined, namely, of that which is still united ; 
therefore the child tries to open or divide everything. 
Therefore the sphere and cule^ each of them divided ac- 
cording to its inner dimensions^ will be the necessary 
advance shown in the next childish plays and means of 
employment. 

Yet the creating, active life of the child requires that 
here also again the attempt be made to combine and unite 
the divided in the most manifold way by means of the 
child's own activity, as his greatest delight consists in the 
quick alternation of building up and tearing down, of 
uniting and separating, and to this topic we shall soon 
return. 

If now we cast an inquiring glance on the forms built 
up and arranged together, although soon torn down and 
separated again, we shall recognize a number of them as 
forms of life imitating surrounding life, or as combina- 
tions to produce a single form, and hence predominantly 
as forms of beauty ; or, finally, that they are connections 
and representations for the purpose of comparison in 
respect to form, size, position, etc., thus predominantly 
forms of knowledge. Hence we may exhibit our results 
as regards these plays and these means of fostering the 
impulse to activity in the following tabular view : 



FIRST REVIEW OP THE PLAY. 



107 



The Ball 



The Sphere 



The Cube 



The Doll 

(a general expression of the active or living) 
both sphere and cube divided in accordance with the 
fundamental dimensions in each ; and each independently 
again united 

in forms of in forms of 



e 
^ 


' Knowledge 
Beauty 


•edomin 
ing to 
heart 


antly correspond- 
the feeling and 



El 

CD 



td 

CD 



I 

CD* 
CD 



predominantly correspond- 
ing to the thought and 
intellect 



of the child. 



IX. 

THE THIRD PLAY OP THE CHILD AND A CRADLE SONG. 
(See Plates^m, IV, V.) 

Preface. — The outward employment, the child's play, 
and his inner world. 

It has indeed been stated, even at the beginning of 
this undertaking, as a fundamental truth, that the plays 
and occupations of children should by no means be treated 
as offering merely means for passing the time (we might 
say, for consuming time), hence only as outside activity, 
but rather that by means of such plays and employments 
the child's innermost nature must be satisfied. This truth 
has indeed been before expressed ; but, on account of its 
deep importance for the whole life of the child and man, 
it can not be too often repeated, too impressively stated, 
nor can its truth be too often established from all points 
of view. 

Parents and nurses ! we must unchangeably hold fast 
for consideration in life this fact : that in the self -occu- 
pation and play of the child, especially in the first years, 
is formed (in union with the surroundings of the child 
and under their silent, unremarked influence) not only 
the germ, but also the core, of his whole future life, in 
respect to all which we must recognize as already con- 
tained in a germ and vital center — individuality, selfhood, 
future personality. From the first voluntary employment, 



THE THIRD PLAY OF THE CHILD. 109 

therefore, proceeds not merely exercise and strengthen- 
ing of the body, the limbs, and the exterior organs of the 
senses, but especially also development of the heart and 
training of the intellect, as well as the awakening of the 
inner sense and sound judgment. We stop here with 
the development of the heart and mind, with the germ of 
anticipatory intuition, of sensation, and of the character 
therefrom developing. 

Eriends of childhood and humanity ! penetrating ob- 
servers of life ! must we not, looking around us, miss only 
too frequently in the life of the children true deeply 
grounded and firmly rooted love and respect toward their 
parents, and especially toward age? Do we not, when 
looking around us, miss only too often in the children 
and young people true respect for their elders and genuine 
love for humanity as such (apart from rank or position) ? 
Do we not repeatedly miss, with pain, in the mind of the 
child and of the youth, trustful respect for and love and 
cultivation of the innermost nature which abides and 
acts in all beings, and which so readily reveals itself to 
the quiet perceptions of the child? It is called indeed 
the highest, but it should, more comprehensively for child 
and man, be called the deepest, because it is perceived in 
the depths, in the innermost, in the most hidden nature 
of the child and man. 

Do we not too frequently (and sadly) miss, in the life 
of children and youth, thoughtful appreciation and trust- 
ful respect and love for all which we call holy^ or which 
is holy 9 Holy, because we deeply feel and clearly recog- 
nize that from its attentive observance health, wholeness — 
that is, the genuine healthy and unviolated state of the 
whole man (at one with himself), and likewise the col- 
lective relations of life — would proceed. 



110 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Yet we must openly and freely avow, as trutli-loving 
and upright human beings, and as beings devoted to the 
inculcation of uprightness and truth, that by means of 
the above remarks we have comprehended the actual life 
and the phenomena of life in their deepest roots. 

But perhaps for that reason these remarks have been 
also made by others, and frequently. This consideration 
need not disturb us, for we immediately go further, and 
ask. What have we to do, therefore, that it may be dif- 
ferent, wholly different? 

We must therefore naturally, above all, develop in 
children genuine love for their parents, genuine respect 
for age, the respect for their experience and judgment, 
which is originally deeply rooted in the child, and love 
— yes, yearning — for a share of their knowledge. We 
must make their own inner life and its needs felt and 
perceived in the minds and souls of children. We must, 
by creative activity in the outward world, make them at 
the same time observant and active in thought ; but, on 
the other hand, we must guard against making them in- 
wardly empty by superficial scattering abroad. But, now, 
how is all this to be done ? By what can it be promoted, 
and in what way can it be attained ? 

First of all, and in its very starting points, by leading 
the child to perceive and later to recognize by thought, 
although by no means as yet to express by words, in the 
totality of the outward phenomena around him, as a 
single fact of life, but especially in himself as a vivid 
emotion and as a feeling, that " my parents and also the 
grown-up, experienced people around me, not only exert 
themselves to supply the outward needs of my life by 
food, clothes, shelter, and even by means of exercise, em- 
ployment and play, but they are actually anxious also 



THE THIRD PLAY OF THE CHILD. m 

to develop my powers and capacities, to foster my inner 
life, to fulfill the requirement of my heart and mind. 
And this fostering of my innermost being is actually the 
ultimate foundation and aim of all their outward care, 
and stands before them actually as the single aim and 
ultimate purpose of all their efforts." This collective 
perception as a feeling, as a sensation, is certainly as 
deeply grounded in the unspoiled child as it is early felt 
by him; for the child perceives Ms life at first as an 
inner and innermost, as a single and individual one. 
Parents and mothers ! nurses and human beings ! the 
proofs of this lie speakingly before you ; only observe 
them, only analyze them, only read them and study 
them. 

Mothers and fathers, nurses ! is it not almost incredi- 
ble, does it not arouse great astonishment, to be obliged 
to perceive how the child so very early — we might say 
even with the first weak expressions of his human life — 
appears to distinguish inner intellectual and loving gifts 
from outer corporeal ones, or rather to be conscious of 
the heart and mind of the giver, to feel the giving spirit ? 
Who does not see this in the effect of a friendly glance, 
of a sympathizingly spoken word, of a tender care which 
often affords little more than sympathy and companion- 
ship? 

We certainly refer too many of the phenomena of 
the earliest child life to the striving after physical well- 
being ; whereas, on the contrary, something spiritual is 
the cause of them. Of course, in the child, as yet, they 
flow into one another ; but there is no question in the 
healthy little child which of the two ends or poles is 
mostly predominant and by which he is most deeply 
aroused, by spiritual or by merely physical influences. 



112 PEDAGOGICS OP THE KINDERGARTEN. 

If, for example, the child not yet two months old longs 
for his cloak, is already joyously excited when he sees it, 
but yet more joyously when he sees his nurse move with 
him toward the cloak, take it up, and finally put it on 
him — this is not merely in order to be more comfortably 
carried, for the child desires to go into the open air, he 
knows already the door which leads thither — he wishes 
to make a journey of discovery into the world, into the 
free Nature which offers to him so much that is new. 
As, too, the circumnavigator does not take ship for the 
sake of having a sail on the ocean, but in order to extend 
his own knowledge and that of mankind, to cultivate his 
own mind and that of mankind. For that reason the 
child should not be carried past the surrounding objects 
silently, unsympathizingly, and regardlessly, but such ob- 
jects should, as much as possible, be shown to him from 
many points of view and in different situations and rela- 
tions. It is a remarkable fact, which every one may ob- 
serve, that the mere love for the outward person of the 
child, the mere bodily care, does not satisfy him; and, 
indeed, the nobler the child is in his nature, and the 
more strongly he feels himself spiritual, the less does he 
cling to the giving person. He indeed even shuns the 
one who merely bestows favors on account of his exter- 
nal person. This phenomenon deserves from parents 
and nurses many-sided consideration and further elab- 
oration. 

We also will later return to it ; for it is important 
and indispensable to beneficial education to seek out the 
phenomena of child life in their innermost causes, in their 
most secret laboratory. And thus, through this consid- 
eration, we have found and recognized what we sought, 
namely, that the respect and love — yea, the reverence — of 



THE THIRD PLAY OF THE CHILD. 113 

children and youth are gained and secured to parents as 
well as to elders in proportion to what the latter are doing 
for the education of the mental life of childhood in gen- 
eral. This respect and this love are gained more particu- 
larly by the fact that the child is allowed, according to his 
small strength of body and mind and his limited capacities, 
to develop early and by himself, yet free, self-active, and 
independent, always conscious of a superior protection 
accompanying and watching him, but without feeling 
the external hand guiding him. For the simple, good- 
natured child does not want to be entirely left alone and 
abandoned to himself, but he wants to feel, as it were, 
the eye and look of the faithful nurse always about him 
and above him, really always near him. Would that you 
all, beloved parents, might succeed in fostering this feel- 
ing and this need in your children, and in making this 
feeling and this need grow up in them and invigorate 
them, for it is, I might even say, natural to unspoiled 
children to come to the unity and fount of all life — to 
God — by means of their own life with their parents ; that 
is to say, this destiny is necessarily postulated in their 
nature as well as in the development of their life. 

Hence the care for the fostering of the innermost, 
spiritual life of the child must begin at once with birth, 
and must be directly connected with the care for his 
bodily life. It must give higher significance and sacred- 
ness to the latter, so that the child may feel and perceive 
both at the same time in the giver, and, consequently, as 
I have already said, the idea may early come to the child 
that the bodily care and fostering have besides the outer 
meaning also a deeper inner reference. 

We must therefore with the deepest earnestness state, 
and for the good of all the relations of life demand, that 



114 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

the careful fostering of the spiritual inner life of the child 
begin far earlier than the precise effects of that life be- 
come outwardly manifest, and before the inner delicate 
sense of this life be disturbed, or even choked up, by any 
kind of influence from without ; for the inner spiritual 
perceptions of the child, only too often withdrawing from 
our notice, are usually far in advance of their outward 
manifestations and effects ; therefore it is frequently much 
too late to exert spiritual influence on the child and man 
at the time when we believe ourselves still able to pro- 
duce the effects of that influence. Parents would indeed 
later, as we often hear in life, only too gladly reawaken by 
words in the child that higher human sense, that sense of 
love and respect for the highest ; but how can the out- 
ward inciting word help and fructify when the feeling 
not only active but shared with others is lacking as a fact 
of life inwardly perceived by child and man ? 

One proof of all this is, that it is possible early to ac- 
custom the child to purity of heart as well as to cleanli- 
ness of body, in the former case discovering itself in feel- 
ing and word, as in the latter case, in bodily appearance 
and act. 

Thus, first of all, before any other reflection aroused in 
him from without come to the child, the following obser- 
vation as the sun of his whole future life must shine upon 
and warm him — the reflection that " the fostering care, 
the development and formation, the realization of my 
inmost life as a whole in itself, and as a member of a 
greater living whole, is the object of all which is done 
for me from without ; of all which is done for me by 
older people, and especially of all that is done for me by 
my parents." If now the lively appreciation of what has 
been done to cultivate his inner world by parents and 



THE THIRD PLAY OF THE CHILD. 115 

other people fill the soul of the child so that he may feel 
and find himself at the same time a whole and also a 
single member of a higher life unity, then will true love 
and gratitude toward his parents, respect and veneration 
for age, germinate in the mind of the child. Then will 
the vivifying anticipation of the lovingly pervading unity 
and fount of all life blossom in his soul, bear imperish- 
able fruits in his character and be an abiding quality of 
his action. It would be a sign of the unnaturalness of 
the child were it otherwise. 

To assist parents and children to obtain these highest 
gifts and blessings of life is the single and innermost aim 
of these plays, of these means of employment. To the 
application and suitable use of these we leave the busi- 
ness of proving and the manner of demonstrating the 
same. We bring forward but one thing more as essential. 
If we look into life as it is, we see how the heart and 
inner life of mankind, but especially that of the adult, is 
now further from that of children than ever, and more 
foreign to it. And this is principally because the family 
life, and especially the life with the children, the treat- 
ment of childhood and youth, is no longer in harmony 
with the attained stage of insight into Nature and life or 
with its requirements for the development of humanity. 
But now man, especially the adult, is to feel his mind 
and inner life again approach to unity with the life of 
childhood ; so the union of life and mind must grow forth 
anew from the innermost life kernel ; and this we hope to 
hasten through the nurture of children and childhood 
here advocated, since the spirit from which these plays 
proceed, and in which they are carried out, is the spirit 
of the unity of all life. 

It is true that to the first of these plays objection has 



116 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

been made, and it has been pointed out as an imperfec- 
tion, that in it the child may appear not to have sufficient 
voluntary action outwardly and bodily. But much of this 
may arise from the fact that the play is as yet only known 
in its beginnings, but not in its more extended use and 
its further development. But then it may be considered 
principally on account of the just stated more compre- 
hensive view of the too dependent and too closely uniting 
life — by no means as not corresponding to the aim of 
these plays if, especially with the first of them, and yet 
only in the earliest time of employing them, the child 
does not appear to be at once fully and separately occu- 
pied bodily and outwardly, but the adult often appears 
outwardly more employed than the child. For just this 
connecting, outward associated activity between adult and 
child is very important, in order that thereby the associ- 
ated inner life between them, which is indeed primordial, 
but as yet slumbering in the child, may be aroused and 
fostered. Besides, it depends first of all on the suitable in- 
citing and fostering of the inner^ spiritual^ voluntary 
self -employment of the child in a manner corresponding 
to the inner as well as to the outer world of the child, 
and to the nature of mankind in general, in order to 
make his spirit free, but not on account of the merely 
outward activity of his body and limbs. The child's 
course of development teaches us this, since the child 
comes to the free use of his senses sooner than to that 
of his limbs. But if now this inner spiritual employment 
is begun in the child — is, as it were, born in him ; if he 
has found within himself even in its first germs the art 
(high, indeed, but yet lying near the child) of employ- 
ing himself in a manner suited to his inner nature ; and 
if he has discovered by and in himself the use of this art, 



THE THIRD PLAY OF THE CHILD. 117 

then follows directly through, it the art of outward and 
bodily employment by means of which the child himself 
represents and accomplishes, and, indeed, just as was pre- 
scribed, proceeding from the spiritual and referring back 
to it ; and thus will be attained the object which is the 
sole one in the fostering of childhood — yiz., development 
and vivification of the inner world of each human per- 
sonality, and so for the pure, common life of humanity 
in mind and spirit, and for the innermost union with all 
which is called life, therefore pre-eminently with the fount 
of life, the unity of life itself. 

If now in this way even the two former play gifts, of 
which, however, the second was only partially brought 
out in its full extension, quite essentially contribute to 
the attainment of all the exalted blessings and gifts of 
life above mentioned, and indeed to the foundations of 
life, this occurs more variedly in the third play gift which 
we here lay before the parents and friends of children for 
use and examination. Because this gift includes in itself 
more outward manifoldness and at the same time makes 
the inward manifoldness yet more perceptible and mani- 
fest. 

Let us, therefore, first of all hasten to place ourselves 
together in the children's play-corner of the family room, 
or at the play-table of the nursery, and there seek to dis- 
cover what attracts the child to it in the beginning of his 
employment of self, or rather by what and whither he is in 
himself attracted, what he conformably to this attraction 
would like to represent outwardly, and what he needs for 
the purpose. Let us take our place there as quietly and 
as unnoticed as possible, observing how the child between 
the ages of one and three years, after he has contem- 
plated the form and color of the self-contained body 



118 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

which he can handle, has moved it here and there in his 
hands, and. experimented upon its solidity, now tries to 
pull it apart^ or at least to alter its form in order to dis- 
cover new properties in it, and to find out new ways of 
using it. If the little one succeeds in his attempt to 
separate the object, we see that he then tries to put the 
parts together to form the whole which he at first had, or 
to arrange them in a new whole. We see that he will 
unweariedly and quietly repeat this for a long time. 

Thus, after comprehending the outside of the object, 
the child likes also to investigate its inside ; after a per- 
ception of the ivhole, to see it separated into its parts ; if 
he obtained a glimpse of the firsts if he has attained the 
second^ he would like from the parts again to create the 
whole. 

Let us linger over this expressive phenomenon, and let 
us seek first of all to recognize through it what we have 
to furnish to the child from inner grounds and without 
arbitrariness, as a plaything for the next play, after the 
self-contained ball, after the hard sphere, every part of 
which is similar, and after the single solid cube. This 
is : something firm which can be easily pulled apart by the 
child's strength, and just as easily put together again. 
Therefore it must also be something which is simple, yet 
multiform ; and what should this be, after what we have 
perceived up to this point, and in view of what the sur- 
rounding world affords us, but the cube divided through 
the center by three planes perpendicular to one another, 
as the third gift of the children's playthings. 

The Mature of this Gift. — With this plaything we now 
begin a whole series of such playthings, each of which, as 
was the case with those that preceded, necessarily evolves 
from the preceding one, viz., the series of cubical rectilin- 



THE THIRD PLAY OF THE CHILD. 119 

ear solids and those which are naturally derived from 
them. The principal cube appears separated by the men- 
tioned division in this play into eight equal cubes. The 
child thus distinguishes here as a given fact, and without 
any words (purely as the perception of an object), a whole 
and a part.^ for each component cube is a part of the prin- 
cipal cube. The component cubes have the same form as 
the principal cube ; thus what the principal cube shows 
once in respect to its /orm, the component cubes show 
together as often and as repeatedly as there are cubes. 
This is uncommonly important for the child as a strength- 
ening exercise and a review for clearing up the subject. 
He thus again distinguishes purely as a perceptible fact 
the size from the form^ for each component cube shares 
indeed the cubical form of the principal cube, but not 
its size. However, one and the same size is again shown 
by each of the component cubes, hence again as often as 
there are component cubes. Therefore, by this simple 
play the above-mentioned fundamental perceptions^ whole 
and part, form and size, are made clear hy comparison and 
contrast^ as well as deeply impressed ly repetition. The 
child further perceives, as a fact, position^ and, what is 
yet more important, arrangement (compare Plate III, 
No. 1) ; for before him is shown an above and below, 
an over and under, a behind and before, etc. Hence, 
one upon the other, one behind the other, and one beside 
the other, etc. 

The child distinguishes, as a perception of fact, outer 
and inner — indeed, he can make the inner outer, and the 
outer inner. This important perceptible fact is shown 
to the child, and the child can repeat it as often as he 
pleases. The inner, as soon as it becomes perceptible to 
the organs of sense, becomes immediately the outer ; the 



120 PEDAGOGICS OP THE KINDERGARTEN. 

inner as inner, on the contrary, can never really be per- 
ceived by the outward senses. 

We see thus already, from these few examples, that 
this simplest of all the playthings which contain a truth 
includes in itself also for the child a constantly and 
progressively developing series of perceptions suited to 
the increasing inner development of the child. We shall 
yet find occasion, in the course of the exposition, to ren- 
der prominent several of these. For the longer and more 
profoundly we employ ourselves with this first divisible 
plaything in child life, so much the more manifoldly and 
symmetrically there unfold themselves in it the properties 
and nature of the outer world in exact proportion to the 
capacities of the child, to his stage of inner and outer de- 
velopment, and to the degree in which that world dis- 
closes itself to him. And this plaything appears to the 
child as a key to the outer ivorld — as an awakener of his 
inner world. 

Let us consider this for a moment, for it is as impor- 
tant for the comprehension of the course of development 
of the child as for the recognition and comprehension of 
the outer world. 

How and through what now is the latter first of all 
accomplished ? 

By the use of this gift are recognized, comprehended, 
and represented, gradually and increasingly, the general 
in the particular (for example, in the center of each par- 
ticular cube surface, the center of every square surface) ; 
the most gerieral in the most particular (for example, in 
a particular corner point of the cube, the point in and 
for itself) ; unity in the individual (for example, in that 
particular cube, the properties and nature of bodies which 
occupy space) ; the simple and unital in the various and 



THE THIRD PLAY OF THE CHILD. 121 

manifold (for example, in tlie various edges of the cube, 
the nature of the line, its directions, and the points from 
and to which it is drawn). 

But now how does this gift awaken and develop the in- 
ner world ? In this way, that by means of it become percep- 
tible the general as o^ particular (for example, the straight 
line as one particular edge) ; the siiigle as an individual 
(for example, the point as such, as a particular corner 
point) ; the inner as an outer (for example, the inner prin- 
cipal dimensions of the cube, as outer edges) ; that which 
is felt and thought^ as a thing which has shape (for exam- 
ple, the whole as a cube) ; and the unity ^ the simple, as a 
plurality, a manifold thing (for example, each of the 
three inner principal dimensions, 2,^ four edges which are 
parallel to one another) ; and thus the invisible becomes 
perceptible in the visible. 

This apparently insignificant gift, the first in the series 
of divisible gifts composed of parts, corresponds to this 
high demand for the development of the human being, 
and finally of humanity, as well as for the knowledge of 
Nature ; and thus through both, and united in both, for 
the genuine Icnowledge of God, But as its fundamental 
form is not only rectilinear, but is more precisely a right- 
angled parallelepiped, the plaything shows also the ulti- 
mate type of most of the shapes which surround the child 
as quiescent, stable, and firm, especially the ultimate type 
of structures put together by human hand which stand 
in their substantiality around the child. Hence this 
play becomes to the child the key to the outer world. 
But this play, through this great generality of form, and 
the capacity of its parts for being easily put together 
and joined, which is due to this generality, is also an 
equally excellent means of awakening the inner world. 
11 



122 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

For just this play in its adaptability to the child makes 
it possible not only that the invisible thought may be 
formed, but also that the inner simple thought may be 
represented visibly in an outward manifoldness. 

Here, then, we meet as a very great imperfection and 
inadequateness — indeed, in reference to the inner develop- 
ment of the child an obstructing, and in reference to its 
outer knowledge a disturbing element, and in both cases 
an element actually destructive to the child — an element 
which slumbers like a viper under roses, in that which is 
now so frequently provided as a plaything for children ; 
it is, in a word, the already too complex and ornate, too- 
finished plaything. The child can begin no new thing 
with it, can not produce enough variety by means of it ; 
his power of creative imagination, his power of giving 
outward form to his own idea, are thus actually dead- 
ened ; as when we provide children with too finished 
playthings we at the same time deprive them of the in- 
centive to perceive the particular in the general, and of 
taking the means to find it (for example, to see in the 
general cubical form, and in the grouping of the parts 
now a piece of furniture of a house or room, now an 
animal, etc.). 

The plays, the first of which is here given, not only 
avoid this just-mentioned fault, and supplement this just- 
recognized incompleteness, but they contain more by far, 
as even this first play of this stage already shows. 

We have repeatedly said, and every one can observe, 
that the nature of the child is to feel and experience^ to 
act and represent^ to thinh and to recognize^ and that in 
this tUreefold yet single nature are included the totality 
of his expressions of life and of his activities. 

The plaything in question corresponds to and wholly 



THE THIRD PLAY OF THE CHILD. 123 

satisfies this threefold expression of the human nature (in 
itself single) and of the child's life by rendering possible 
the representation and construction of forms of ieauty^ 
life^ and knowledge^ as was already intimated and indicated 
even in the former review. 

True hnowledge of Nature and the outer worlds and 
(especially) clear self-knowledge, early come to the child 
by this dismembering and reconstruction and perception 
of real objects, although by no means as yet by .verbal 
designation of the various products of the activity and 
of the inner life of children. Even the first plaything 
of this series leads to clear and distinct, to general and 
simple conceptions ; it leads to the clear arrangement of 
the feelings, and to the supervision and control of the 
emotions ; it leads to a productive, judicious use of energy, 
and all this even when life still rests in undisturbed unity 
within the child ; and so it ought to be. Perfectly suit- 
able to the child is now 

The Use of this Plaything. — By means of this play, as 
of all following plays of the kind, incentive as well as ma- 
terial is to be given to the child (now between one and 
three years old) freely to develop and to exercise of Ms 
oivn accord the whole of his powers and talents in a 
manner suited to the corresponding stage of life and 
culture. 

In order to furnish to the child at once clearly and 
definitely the impression of the tvhole, of the self-con- 
tained (from this perception, as the first fundamental 
perception, all proceeds and must proceed), the play- 
thing, before it is given to the child for his own free use, 
is taken out of its paper covering and again arranged in 
the box which belongs to it ; the cover of the box is now 
drawn out about a quarter of its length, the box is turned 



124 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

over, placed with the partly drawn-out cover on the table 
before the child, and then the cover is wholly drawn out 
from under the box. The cube contained in it will thus 
sink on the surface of the table. The box is now raised 
up carefully in a vertical direction from the plaything, 
which will thus appear before the observing child as a cube 
closely united, yet easily separated and again restored. This 
first careful presentation of this plaything in conformity to 
its aim, and in respect to the child and his inner nature, is 
by no means incidental, but, on the contrary, quite essen- 
tial ; for the child receives by means of it the clear, definite 
impression of a self-contained whole, which, as he soon 
perceives, is nevertheless separable into its component 
parts. Since now the child is intent on seeing the new 
play, the first impression of it will be full of life, and so 
an abiding one ; and nothing is more important for the 
child than that his first impression of each thing should 
be that of a body reposing on its own basis, all of whose 
parts belong together. Therefore the first and earliest 
impression of the neatness and order of the family room, 
or even of the children's room, the nursery, is so pre- 
eminently important for the child. 

We can not here pass over unmentioned the remark, 
essential for the whole life of the child and his course 
of development, that phenomena and impressions which 
seem to us insignificant and are often mostly unnoticed 
by us have for the child, and especially for his inner 
world, most important results, since the child develops 
more through what seems to us small and imperceptible 
than through what appears to us large and striking. Let 
us thus recall vividly to our remembrance, and for the 
welfare of our children let us never forget, that from its 
legijming in the smallest and most imperceptible there 



THE THIRD PLAY OF THE CHILD. 125 

goes forth into Nature and into life and development of 
child and man as a whole and a memher, what later on 
has such great and comprehensive effects ; hence — wholly 
contrary to the commonly prevailing view at the present 
time — the observation of that which is small, and even 
imperceptible, is noivhere more important than in the 
children's room, and therefore in the family room. 

We can not permit ourselves here to suppress two 
other remarks not less important to us in their deep 
foundation. The first is, that to the child the outer 
world develops, advances, and improves according to the 
same law, and in similar order with the creation of the 
world, and, above all, of the earth, as we are informed 
by the Holy Scriptures. The second remark is, that the 
child's garden of paradise, its Eden, is the nursery and 
family room, the father's house and premises. 

We can, however, here not carry further these passing 
remarks — to which at some later time particular atten- 
tion will be devoted, but whose importance, here only in- 
timated, is already explicitly admitted by each parent or 
nurse — but we must return to the use of the plaything in 
question. 

The cube, which is divisible into parts, lies as a whole, 
as a unit, before the child. The child wishes to touch, to 
handle what it sees ; one of the component cubes is dis- 
placed, and it or another falls finally in consequence; 
but the cube appearing as a whole is to be examined as 
to its contents and its separability, and so begins the 
arrangement of the parts separately and afterward, to- 
gether in the most varied ways, according to the require- 
ments of the selfhood and individuality of the child; 
and here again the parts are placed now one on another, 
now one behind another, and now one beside another. 



126 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Experience lias shown that healthy, vigorous, and also 
lively children have employed themselves quietly and 
thoughtfully by themselves for a considerable length of 
time arranging the cubes together on different plans, but 
the plan once chosen is adhered to. 

What shall now the true, careful nurse do w^ith it? 
She ought to let the child, as long as he will, play quietly 
and thoughtfully by himself. If the child demands sym- 
pathy with look and voice, what he does should be point- 
ed out by words ; for example, as the child piles one cube 
on another, she says, " Up, up, up " ; if he places them 
beside each other, she says, " Near, near, near " ; so with 
"behind" and "before," so with "from" or "down," etc. 
But she can also sing this in changing notes, " Xear, near, 
near," or " Up, up, up," singing " up " with a rising tone 
and " down " with a falling tone. 

Soon after this it will give the child pleasure to con- 
nect with one another separation and union, arranging 
together and separately ; this also is accompanied with 
the words and the measured singing tone, " Up, down ; 
up, down " ; or " To and fro ; to and fro," etc. ; or with 
more extended change of tone, " Up there, down here ; 
up there, down here," etc. This change of the tone not 
only outwardly accompanying but even directing his ac- 
tion and so vivifying his play, this play of word and tone 
will soon please the child ; the little one will not only 
wish and demand it, but even imitate and accom- 
plish it. 

If what the child does shows no precise relation to 
space, and the nurse would like to accompany the child's 
activity by the singing change of tone, she sings to him 
in different notes of the scale : 



THE THIRD PLAY OF THE CHILD. 127 

12 3 
" One, one, one," 

or 
" One and one, and one again," 

or 

12 3 

" One, two, three," 
etc.* 

If at another time she is carrying the child, and wishes 
to quiet him, she sings a whole little song to him : 

[2] 

55 33 225 55 33 221 

Up and down and | down and up, | up and down and | down and up; 
or [3] 

1 3^^3 5 5 1 3^ — .2 1 

One, two, and | three ; | three and two and | one 

or 

One and two and j three and four ; | one and two and ] 
[2] 

4 4 3 2 5 1 

Three and four ; | one and two. 

The child will now no longer remain unaffected by 
these little songs, but remembrances and perceptions will 
become awakened in him ; and so he becomes at the same 
time feeling, thinking, and reflective — that is, aroused in 
all-sided life-harmony. So it comes to pass by degrees 
that the child not only perceives the tone emotionally in 
himself, but, I might say, hears it in and from the dumb 
body. 

Who does not see already from this what a rich vari- 
ety is developed even from the simplest application of 

* By the figures are indicated the tones which are to be sung to 
the words, 1 representing the keynote, 2 the note which naturally 
follows it, and so on. The figures at the beginning point out the 
number of principal parts in each measure. 



128 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

the first occupation with this plaything ? Who could or 
would exhaust even this ? Enough ; we see that the 
child will be already educated, in the innermost harmony 
of the life proceeding from God's own nature, to value, 
foster, preserve, and exhibit that life from himself and 
through himself, which is indeed the ultimate and high- 
est object of all education^ of all life. And we have this 
aim clearly before our eyes and in our hearts by these 
plays, even from the birth of the child. 

The child will for a long time now indeed occupy him- 
self, partly alone and partly in conjunction with his nurse, 
in the simple arrangement of the blocks separately and 
together, and with frequent repetitions ; but he will soon 
be incited by the idea of combining, or arranging some- 
thing (for example, a star), by moving the blocks to and 
from one another, and will make the attempt. 

The intelligent nurse now interprets this dim idea in 
the child, and sees whether a something (for example, a 
table, a bench, a chair, etc.), or a plurality of objects at 
the same time (for example, two chairs, two benches, 
chair and bench, or table and bench, etc.),* can be per- 
ceived in what is represented. What is suggested by the 
imagination and caprice of the moment is now expressed 
by word and tone ; for example : 

585351 585361 
A table, a table, a table ; a chair, a chair, a chair. 

But this now no longer satisfies ; the child, though as yet 
very dimly, connects with the something the perception, 
the idea, of a purpose for this something ; for example, he 
connects with a chair or bench the idea that some one can 
sit upon it. But still further, as the bare something does 

* Compare the illustration on Plate IV, Figs. 14 to 24, 



THE THIRD PLAY OF THE CHILD. 129 

not now satisfy the child, so also he is not satisfied by 
the bare purpose of this something ; but he also demands 
that this something stand in connection with himself, at 
least with his life or with somebody or something in his 
life, for example, the chair (Plate IV, Fig. 18) : 

" This is grandmamma's chair, on which she sits and 
takes the child on her lap when he is quiet, and tells him 
a story. Come, grandmamma, come, there is the chair ; 
you can sit down. Come tell a story to the child." So 
says the mother, as it were, from the child's mouth, and 
then goes on : " The grandmamma is not there ; she is in 
the kitchen making soup for father ; or she is planting 
flowers in the garden, little flowers for sister." 

" Come, grandmamma, bring the soup ; the table is 
ready ; the benches also are standing by it " (Plate IV, 
Fig. 17). The mother goes on talking for the child, and 
so carries on a dialogue with him. 

Another time the child himself arranges all the blocks 
to form a well. (See Plate IV, Fig. 24.) 

" From the clear spring which flows in there, grand- 
father draws water when he is thirsty ; mother draws 
water from it to water her flowers, or to wash her dear 
child." 

A slight alteration, and it appears the next time as a 
drinking trough. (See Plate IV, Fig. 25.) 

" The drinking trough is so long that the cow and its 
calf, the horse and its colt, may quench their thirst from 
it at the same time." 

There come the herdsman and the herd : 

" The herdsman drives before him horse and cow, calf 
and colt ; the colt is galloping after the horse, the calf is 
frisking after the cow." 

At a somewhat more advanced age little stories may 



130 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

be told to the child which may be altered in the most 
various ways ; the whole cube, for example, is arranged in 
the representation given in Plate IV, Figures 22 and 23. 
They may be considered as ladders ; then the mother says : 

" Father let his neighbor's son Fred pick cherries from 
the tree in the garden ; he went there and wanted to get 
the great heavy roof ladder; but when he wanted to stand 
it up, it fell and broke. * See, there it falls ! ' The gar- 
dener, Frank, saw it, and said, * The heavy roof ladder 
does not belong in the garden, but the light double gar- 
den ladder.* Fred saw that Frank was right, and went 
to get it. ' See, there it stands ! ' (Fig. 23.) And now 
he climbed up high and picked beautiful cherries, but he 
gave some to Frank and to mother and father." 

Thus result for each design the most various percep- 
tions and the most manifold applications to the life of 
the child. We must here content ourselves with these 
few hints, and in respect to the further details, we must 
refer to the play, to the description, and to the directions 
for its use, and to the text for the play itself. Enough ! 
the child is allowed the greatest possible freedom of in- 
vention ; the experience of the adult only accompanies 
and explains. Yet the nurse in charge may also request, 
" Make a chair once more." 

All this in reference to the forms of life represented 
by the plaything ; these inventions of form may perhaps 
more manifestly to the child's understanding be called 
olject forms, or forms of tliiiigs ; for example, " Come, 
we will make an object — a thing. ^^ " What kind of an 
object, what kind of a thi?ig have you made?" It is 
here quite essential to remark that all the eight cubes 
always belong to each design — that is, they must stand 
in some relation to the whole. Thus the child could 



THE THIRD PLAY OF THE CHILD. 131 

indeed have made the design (Fig. 23), for example, so 
that the ladder should be formed of two times three 
cubes, and one above, connecting the two sets ; hence, of 
seven cubes; in this case the eighth cube must be the 
" hand basket in which the cherries were picked, and 
which is now so full that nothing more will go into it." 

So with this play nothing need ever exist without a 
relation to something else, nor must anything appear 
without relation, as also in actual life nothing ever exists 
anywhere separate and without relation. Only our gaze 
is often too weak, our eye too short-sighted or too far- 
sighted always to notice and to recognize this ; but so it 
ought not always to remain. And to develop man's inner 
as well as his outer eye from an early age for the near 
and distant relations of life, for perceiving them rightly, 
and for seeing through their inner coherence, is one of 
the ultimate and highest aims of these plays for the wel- 
fare and blessing, for the joy and peace of the individual 
human being as well as of humanity. 

We now advance further in the exposition of the use 
as well as in the introduction into the spirit of the play. 

Another time the child makes from the whole eight 
cubes a form in which there are none too many, none too 
few ; each is in its right place ; but we can not say of the 
design that it is any particular object^ we can not say it 
is any particular tiling ; only it is a something^ for all the 
eight cubes are used in it, and also the whole eight cubes 
seem necessarily to belong to it. And so the design says, 
as it were, silently and always anew to the inventor and 
observer, "Take notice! take notice!" {HaV Acht !)* 
and we observers do not know how to explain this to our- 
selves ; we do not know whether the design means to say 

* HaV Acht means " have eight " as well as " Take notice." — Tr. 



132 PEDAGOGICS OP THE KINDERGARTEN. 

to us that it has eight {Acht) members or parts, or if 
it means to say to us observers that we should notice 
(beachten) it. This much is certain, that it begins as 
an external phe7i07ne7ion^ and becomes in us as a presenti- 
ment; it wishes to appear something to us, and we say 
involuntarily, " It is beautiful." * It appears to us some- 
thing, but we do not know what is formed by it ; we 
call it a picture, and it will look now like a flower^ the 
inner life of which blossoms out, as it were, in outward 
appearance — its inner unity in outward manifold ness ; 
now like a star, in which its inner individual being 
breaks forth into the manifoldness of its rays. We can 
do no otherwise than call these forms beautiful, or rather, 
in one word, as they themselves are but one in themselves, 
beauty -forms; or, in the mouth of the child, picture- 
forms ; often, however, but not always, flower-torms, and 
still less often s^ar-forms. It is enough that unity always 
shines forth from them as the one light shines forth from 
the star ; they are, to the inner nature, to the mi?id and 
feeling, not only something, but something very delight- 
ful, without, however, being a something, an object, a 
thing of outward use in life. 

But now how shall we bring to the child's perception 
this inner unity manifesting itself in the form and by 
means of it, as if the self-moving unit were a light with- 
in the form ? To say, " That is beautiful " is indeed very 
fine ; but what does our child know about it ? To say "It 
is pretty " is indeed true, for it makes prominent one form 
rather than another ; yes, it effaces the other. But how 

* Here is another one of Froebel's puns or etymologies. What 
appears scheint (shines), and this is schon, or beautiful. The same 
punning is continued below in formed {gehildef) and picture {Bild), 
—Editor. 



THE THIRD PLAY OF THE CHILD. 133 

shaW we make this perceptible to the child ? Just through 
raising, through moving, as the light and the brightness 
ray out and send their beams upon its path. 

Let us also now go on this path ; let us move and re- 
move what moves and removes itself by its own efforts, 
although for the outer eye it stands still. For instance, 
the stone always moves [inclines to move] toward the 
depth [center of the earth], although it apparently lies 
still before us ; as the bud or the blossom on the plant 
always strives upward and actually rises constantly, and 
yet to a brief observation can not be seen to move. 

Although the child does not now understand the mute 
language, the word expressed by the visible shape of the 
object, " Take care," yet we will notice it ; since we en- 
deavor to perceive the inner speech of things, the speech 
of Nature and of living facts. 

Practice and experience will later show that it makes 
no difference here from what form we proceed, or whether 
we go forward or backward from this form. 

We proceed, therefore, to our lesson on Fig. 1, Plate 
V. What do we now notice here? Four cubes stand 
close together in the center. Four others stand around 
them less close, and, we might actually say, movable. But 
what now is shown to us by this relation of the four outer 
movable cubes to the four inner quiescent firmly standing 
cubes ? It shows that surfaces or sides join surfaces or 
sides. But the cube shows also edges or lines. Just as 
surfaces joined surfaces, or surface touched surface, so 
can and must edges join edges, or edges touch edges. 

But if, now, surfaces can join on to surfaces, edges on 
to edges, and so always the like can join to one another, 
so also, therefore, in the progressive course and completion 
of the development and movement, opposites can and must 



134 PEDAGOGICS OP THE KINDERGARTEN. 

unite or join with one another, edges with surfaces and 
surfaces with edges. Now, how is all this to be made per- 
ceptible to the child in the simplest way ? As already 
said, by moving and removing. We begin with the ar- 
rangement of Plate V, Fig. 1 ; we move one after another 
of the four outer cubes which now stand with surface 
against surface, round to the left or right (application of 
the earlier ball game), so that now edges come to end in 
(i. e., touch) edges (see Plate V, Fig. 2) ; then further, 
edges touching surfaces (Plate V, Fig. 3), and finally sur- 
faces touching edges (Fig. 4, Plate V) ; and we have thus 
attained and represented before the child's eye what we 
wished : we have made manifest and clear the inner unity 
of the shape in the manifoldness of the movements in and 
through the change of shapes, and the child will soon 
give evidence through lively gestures and looks that he 
finds this dance of shapes beautiful ; he will soon find the 
word heautiful descriptive of this dance, and wall of his 
own accord designate it as beautiful when repeated. How 
now invite the child to the exhibition and consideration 
of this change of shape ? By the thing itself : " Come, 
child ! we will dance the cubes once more. But in order 
that they may not be tired, always let each wait a little ; 
now dance around to the right, now around to the left." 
(Plate V, Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4.) 

" Come, child ! we must also sing for the dancing " ; 

ro] 113 3 5 5 3 

L J Face to face put ; | that is right, | 

8 8 7 7 6 6 5 

Edges now are | meeting quite ; 

6 6 5 5 4 4 3 

Edge to face now | we will lay, 

2 2 115 5 2 1 

Face to edge will | end the play.* 

* The figure 2 at the left hand means that there are two half- 



THE THIRD PLAY OF THE CHILD. 135 

The same alterations that have been made with the 
four outer cubes, or changes similar to them, can now also 
be undertaken with the inner. The four cubes, hitherto 
quiescent in the center, can now unfold their activity also. 
(Compare on Plate V, Figs. 1, 5, and 8 ; also 3, 6, and 7 ; 
2 and 10 ; 4 and 12.) 

Singing can then accompany this action, thus : 

Only the outer blocks 

Seem now to go, 
For the four inner blocks 
No movement show. 
But all this seeming is only show, 
Inner makes outer this way to go. 
Its rule is quiet, but we shall see 
It makes the inner the outside be. 

So, for example, with the above-described last develop- 
ment of the four inner cubes (from Fig. 4 to Fig. 12), 
one can now also return from Fig. 12 through Figs. 11 
and 10 to 9 ; so that now again the four inner cubes re- 
main standing unaltered ; and the four outer cubes, on 
the contrary, move around the first in a dance, as it were, 
either round to the right or round to the left, or alter- 
nately to the right and to the left (Plate V, Figs. 12 to 9). 

We deliberately give prominence to this example and 
to this change of form in order to show that, with this 
treatment of the child's plays, no undue pressure has been 
put on the course of development of the child, or on the 
expression of its inner nature in shaping and making 
forms, but that, as in Nature, the whole can be compre- 
hended from each point and continue to be developed 
vitally and connectedly. 

notes to each measure and the number over the words signify : the 
1 = do ; the 3 = mi ; the 5 = sol, etc. — Editor. 



136 PEDAGOGICS OP THE KINDERGARTEN. 

During the formation of these and similar series of 
shapes, something like the following may now be sung 
to the child : 

rq-i 5 8 7 6 6 5 

L^'J In I joyous dance | going, 

5 6 5 4 3 

In I frolicsome | play; 

3 2 3 2 5 5 

"We I unity | showing 

3 5 5 4 2 1 

Reveal the whole al- | way. 

Or, 

As in our dance we wind, 
A garland now we bind. 
In all our changes we 
Keep unity, you see ; 
And so our little play 
Brings you much joy alway. 

This may here suffice as a hint for the introduction to 
the exhibition of the forms of beauty to the child's life. 
For what concerns their more extended treatment I must 
repeatedly refer to the description accompanying the play- 
thing itself, and to the text. 

These forms could also be called dance forms, as we 
speak of the dance of worlds, of the dance of the seasons, 
the dance of Nature in general. Dance forms are forms 
possessing totality, total forms in which each individual 
heeds and obeys the whole ; dance forms, wherein each 
individual is there on account of the whole and the whole 
on account of the individual. [That is to say, the posi- 
tion of each one of the cubes is determined by the others 
through laws of regularity, symmetry, and harmony ; the 
whole determines the part] 

Yet in the progressive course of creative activity there 
will originate from and by this activity forms which can 
neither be classed with the forms of the first nor with 
those of the second kind. These are to be designated 



THE THIED PLAY OF THE CHILD. 137 

neither as forms of life or object forms, nor as forms of 
beauty or picture forms (for example, Plate III, Fig. 2). 
Suddenly as by a blow or cut appear two in the place of 
one ; in the place of the whole appear parts — two parts. I 
feel that the parts are exactly alike ; they are two halves, 
two portions of the whole. What does this experiment 
now tell me ? It tells and teaches me that I can separate 
a whole, that I can separate it into two parts, into two 
halves, into two portions. Bodies can thus have different 
sizes ; bodies can have the same size j moreover, the two 
halves have a different form from the cube, though the 
form of each half is like the other. 

Again, in another lesson the whole is divided in a dif- 
ferent direction, into two halves (Plate III, Fig. 3). Each 
part is, in reference to the cube, the same as before. 
Again, there are two parts which are equal parts, two 
halves, and yet in reference to the person who creates 
the new combination, exhibits it and observes it, all is 
quite different ; there the two narrow sides, here the two 
broad ones, are turned into view. The parts are placed 
differently as well in reference to the cube itself as in ref- 
erence to the observer ; it is therefore the different posi- 
tion which here attracts attention. The cube, so arranged 
and considered, teaches therefore that like parts can have 
different positions. And hence these different groupings 
have taught us and brought to our knowledge the fact that 
groups or bodies can be looked at and contemplated, first of 
all, in respect to their form, size, and position, but, second- 
ly, in respect to their comlination. For the two halves of 
the cube remain the same two halves in respect to their size, 
form, and position, even if their broad sides are again 
joined to form the whole cube. But what the cube has 
taught to the child by this, what he has learned and recog- 
12 



138 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

nizedf is also true ; and hence, therefore, these forms may 
be called forms of truths forms of knoiuledge^ forms of in- 
struction ; indeed, for the child they are most suitably 
called forms of learning. But could forms of knowledge, 
truth, and instruction and learning be for a child from 
one to three years old play forms, and thus forms of cre- 
ative independent activity ? 

Well, why not ? 

Arrange all the eight part-cubes together (Plate III, 
Fig. 1), and say, " One whole." But divide it immediately 
(Fig. 2 of the same plate), and say " Two halves ! " Re- 
peat now the union and separation several times, singing : 

One whole, two sides ; one whole, two sides. 
Another time : 

One whole, two parts ; one whole, two parts. 
Again, another time : 

One whole, two halves ; one whole, two halves. 

What a variety of changes through this use of different 
words and tones ! But the change of position can also be 
brought into combination with it, for example : 

One whole (Fig. 1, Plate III), two sides (Fig. 2, Plate III) ; 

One whole (Fig. 1), two sides (Fig. 3) ; 

One whole (Fig. 1), two sides (Fig. 4). 

The next time " two parts " can be sung instead of 
" two sides," and again a third time " two halves." More 
variety still can be brought into the whole by changing 
both word and position, for example : 

One whole (Fig. 1, Plate III), two sides (Fig. 2) ; 
One whole (Fig. 1), two parts (Fig. 3) ; 
One whole (Fig. 1), two halves (Fig. 4). 

Or comparing and connecting and describing hy song at 
the same time that the objects are manipulated : 



Or 



THE THIRD PLAY OF THE CHILD. 139 

(Fig. 1) Look here and see ! One whole, two halves (Fig. 2) ; 

One'half, two fourths ; two halves, four fourths (Fig. 5) ; 
(Fig. 1) One whole, four fourths (Fig. 5) ; 
(Fig. 5) Four fourths, eight eighths (Fig. 8) ; 
(Fig. 8) Eight eighths, one whole (Fig. 1). 

Here are many, here are few ; 

It's a magic way to do. 



If piles are large, few will they be ; 
If many, they are small, you see. 
Now, pray, what can the reason be t 

Or, in general : 

Now large, and now small, 

Now small, now large grown ; 

Yet, dear, the cube has 

A size of its own. 
Or: 

Now many, and now few ; 

Now few, now many view, 

This change is pleasant too. 

Or bringing adverbs and prepositional words into use to 
describe new relations in the play : 

One half is there, one half is here (Fig. 2) ; 

One half before, one back, my dear (Fig. 3) ; 

One half above, one half below (Fig. 4) ; 

Which I like best I scarcely know. 

1 Or reversed : 

One half above, one half below (Fig. 4) ; 
One half before, one back will go (Fig. 3) ; 
One half to left, one half to right (Fig. 2) ; 
This changing is a pretty sight. 
Or: 

The one half here, one there will go (Fig. 2) ; 
One half above, one half below (Fig. 4) ; 
One half before, one half behind (Fig. 3) ; 
Thus finely word and act combined 
Will into one another wind. 



140 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Similar and yet different forms can be on another oc- 
casion represented with quarters (Plate III, Figs. 5, 6, 7). 
The perception of the relations of position as forms of 
knowledge admits of another beautiful play — viz., where 
one, for example, in Fig. 2, turns the two inner planes of 
separation to surfaces or sides outward, and, on the con- 
trary, the two outer surfaces or sides inward, and at the 
same time sings to the child : 

Inner to outer and outer to in, 

Which of them, pray, by the change will win t 

To think of that I must begin. 

These hints concerning the use of the forms of learn- 
ing as play may now suffice with reference to the text of 
the plaything. 

All these little songs and exercises in perception can be 
introduced in very many other ways into the life of the 
child, and indeed they may be quite generally employed 
for quieting him — e. g., rocking him on your hands now 
to the left, now to the right side : 

From inner to outer, then inner at last. 
Time in our playing: will go very fast. 

Or, now shutting the two hands together, now opening 
both and the fingers on both ; then closing each of the fin- 
gers on both hands, then again opening them, and singing : 

Now but few, now many see ; 
Now but few, now many see. 

And now the finger-tips, starting from the little finger, 
must be allowed to run, as it were, round one another, as if 
one wished to count them, and the song must be continued : 
It's a pretty play for me. 

In the same manner observant and energetic nurses are 
everywhere given opportunity to apply the lessons of the 



THE THIRD PLAY OF THE CHILD. 141 

play, derived from the dead blocks of wood, so that they 
exert a direct influence on the life of the child ; for exam- 
ple, the play of swinging the child up and down in the 
arms, and at the same time singing to it : 

Up and down, and down and up, 

So do lively children run ; 

Down and up, and up and down, 

Up the hill and down again. 

Now, what is the aim of all this? That the child 
should never be surrounded by anything dead, but only 
by what he himself is — namely, by life and by living 
things ; that the child should never see nor hear what is 
destitute of sense and significance, or what is empty ; but 
that he should see, perceive, and discover sense, signifi- 
cance, and connection in all things, as well as the fullness 
and harmony of life. It is thus by no means intended, 
especially with the so-called forms of learning, that the 
child should already definitely comprehend relations of 
size and number, but that a certain tone be always con- 
nected with a certain perception, and the tone, when it is 
again heard, may recall a certain perception, and so any- 
thing indefinite or empty may never come near the child. 

We will later return to this subject when we have be- 
fore us the child of two or three or four years old with 
bodily powers quite developed, and with free use of his 
limbs in walking, in lifting, in jumping and swinging. 
And then the play with the ball, in harmony with the 
bodily and spiritual development of the child, is seen by 
us to be a means of education, training, teaching, and 
learning, altogether as a genuine means of life. For what 
is the highest gift to child and man ? — life. The use of 
what gift is the most important for child and man ? — the 
use of life ! 



14:2 PEDAGOGICS OP THE KINDERGARTEN. 

What presents are the most prized by the child as well 
as by mankind in general ? Those which afford him a 
means of unfolding his inner life most purely, and of 
shaping it in a varied manner, giving it freest activity 
and presenting it clearly. 

So it now seems to me we shall soon discover what is 
meant by " Come, let us live with our children ! " Only 
let us not shun the labor needed to lay a foundation for 
life in the small, in the deep, and in the united. The 
tree of life will surely blossom for us. The twigs will 
wind themselves into garlands ; as the foliage will give 
us a shade, so will the branches afford us fruit. Let us 
only faithfully care for our children, and soon will grow 
up around us a garden of God. Let us only loyally foster 
the children, and nothing in heaven or on earth has such 
high promise, such abiding blessing ; for God loves his 
creatures, his human beings ; he loves his children ; and 
we children, we human beings, should therefore love our 
children as much ! Let us only show in life union, har- 
mony, and singleness of purpose, and hence reveal the di- 
vine. Soon will union, peace, joy, and the godlike incline 
toward us, and hence toward our children ! If you can not 
already perceive in the individual the totality and unity, 
in the germ, the blossom, the fruit, the plant, you must 
have faith in the seed, the soil, the sky, the gardener, the 
whole, the harmony of life. 

Would that this sketch, here given in outline, mighi 
show in what all-sided relation to life we look upon the 
child's plays and occupations ! It will show how they 
ought to be, and are to us for the child the most centra} 
point of all, and the point to which all the phenomena of 
his life relate, so that the child may early also find in him- 
self the inner central point to which all relate, and in 



THE THIRD PLAY OF THE CHILD. I43 

which all is united, the harmony and unity of life, of 
his life, of all life. 

THE MOTHER'S CRADLE SONG. 

Rest ! rest ! 
Rest, my little son, rest ! 
Rest thou in thy mother's arms ; 

Rest thou on thy mother's breast ; 
While my love my baby warms, 
My heart's delight, rest ! 

Rest ! rest ! 
Rest, my darling boy, rest ! 
Thy mother's care strict watch shall keep 

That sister's loving gaze on thee 
Shall not awaken thee from sleep, 
For that would grieve both her and me. 

Rest ! rest ! 
Rest, my trusting one, rest I 
To listen to the life within. 

The softly heaving breast to see, 

Sweet looks of love and trust to win, 

Oh, this is bliss indeed for me I 

Rest ! rest ! 
Rest, my little heart, rest ! 
True, tender name ! Thou art a part 

Of father, and of mother too ; 
For father's heart and mother's heart 
Have found in thine their union true. 

Rest ! rest ! 
Rest, my little son, rest ! 
All life's finest gifts around thee 

Spring forth from the loving heart : 
Ever may these gifts surround thee, 
Banish pain, and joy impart ! 



144 PEDAGOGICS OP THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Rest ! rest I 
Rest, my little son, rest ! 
The peace of soul, the true heart-rest, 

May I ever keep for thee ! 
These are the highest gifts, the best 
For earth and for eternity. 
Rest ! rest I 



X. 



THE CONTIN^UED DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD, AKD 
THE SELF-UNFOLDIKG PLAT WITH THE BALL. 

It has, in the course of these expositions, been repeat- 
edly asserted — and indeed it was first asserted at the con- 
clusion of the first of them — that the giving of a new play 
by no means precludes the further use of the preceding 
and earlier plays. But, on the contrary, the use of the 
preceding play for some time longer with the new play, 
and alternating with it, makes the application of the new 
play so much the easier and more widely significant. On 
the other hand, the practice of the new play following 
has a retroactive effect on the more animated and thought- 
ful, as well as on the more intelligent and freer use of 
the preceding plays in general. It was also stated that 
the plays are in themselves a whole, and, indeed, a whole 
the parts of which develop from one another, and their 
spirit is felt and recognized as a spirit of union and sin- 
gleness of purpose. So also is the development of the 
child himself felt and perceived, and therefore striven for 
by himself as well as by his observant nurse, as a whole 
constantly unfolding from itself ; hence it receives further 
nurture. 

Yet these playthings, or rather the comprehension of 
the play and playing of the child as a great living whole 
dependent upon Nature and life in all relations, show also 



146 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

a different quality. They show, namely, that they con- 
tinue to unfold in the progressive course of the develop- 
ment and education of the child in a logical sequence ; 
and yet, as it were in harmony with the growth of the 
child, and unfold themselves anew and generate new 
things from themselves in their use, in their application, 
and in a manner suited to the course and the then exist- 
ing stage of the child's development. 

Let us now in this connection stop here at the first, 
the simplest of the playthings, at the ball. 

As the strength of the child develops, the use of the 
ball becomes more varied, certainly freer, and I might 
say more personal. So as, for example, the child in the 
beginning merely lets the ball roll from the box on the 
table and fall back into the box ; then next he lets the 
ball run back from the cup into the box ; from the box 
again into the cup, and lets it roll round in the cup (both 
of these acts are frequently repeated actual facts of the 
first child life and child play), so will the child also very 
soon — as soon as he has perceived that he can hollow his 
little hands like a cup — let the little ball run from one 
hand into the other, (as the child, and especially the little 
girl, later employs itself for a long time merely by pour- 
ing water or sand from one vessel into another alternate- 
ly). This activity of the child is now taken up and imi- 
tated. It is repeated, and at the same time extended by 
letting the ball run from one hand into the other, but 
also at the same time — in order to render prominent the 
resting in the different hands — inclosing and hiding it 
now in one hand, now in the other, but again showing it 
alternately at rest now on one hand, now on the other. 

The child (like the man) would like to learn the sig- 
7iificance of what happens around him. This is the foun- 



THE DEVELOPMENT OP THE CHILD. I47 

dation of the Greek choruses, especially in tragedy. This, 
too, is the foundation of very many productions in the 
realm of legends and fairy tales, and is indeed the cause 
of many phenomena in actual history. This is the result 
of the deeply rooted consciousness, the at first deeply 
slumbering premonition of being surrounded by that 
which is higher and more conscious than ourselves. In 
this unconscious premonition the child calls upon all 
which surrounds him, and particularly on the conscious, 
speaking beings about him, to tell him this meaning^ or 
at least give him some information or hint concerning the 
kind of relation which exists between things. Indeed, 
the child demands even of the mute object that it tell 
him its meaning, and let him perceive these relations. 
This premonition and demand of the innermost child 
nature shows itself to all who have the care of chil- 
dren, and especially to the mother. By the satisfaction 
of this premonition and this demand the child will grow 
to love and reverence its parents, and acquire respectful 
recognition of age and experience. The nurse may, there- 
fore, when she brings the child's own play to his more 
definite perception by imitating it, sing to him as follows : 

Over there, 

Over here ; 

Now it is there, 

Now it is here ; 

Now it is far. 

Now it is near ; 

I see now no more ^ 

What just now I saw. 
Or: 

Go there, here ; there, here ; there, here ; 

Like a shuttle, wander, dear. 

You have woven long enough 

For a yard-long piece of stuff. ■■ 



148 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

It is scarcely necessary to say that through this play the 
interval of time quickly consumed ia weaving is symbolized. 
It is likewise by no means necessary, still less perhaps is it 
required, that this should be expressed by the child, or even 
to him. The significance lies open to the feeling, to the 
emotion, to the perception of the child when the little one 
complainingly or entreatingly comes to his mother, say- 
ing, " Mother, the time seems long to me ; what shall I 
do ? " He is briefly answered, " Weave "—that is, in other 
words, "Busy yourself with the means around you." I 
believe nothing more is needed for thinking and sen- 
sible parents, mothers and nurses, in order to perceive 
thoroughly the inner constant coherence even of the first 
and smallest of the child plays with the later manlike 
professional or business life of the human being now still 
in the stage of childhood. Or the simple play can be ac- 
companied by singing the words : 

Over there, 

Over here, 

It quickly 

Can spring ; 

And clearly 

I sing 

A song to it, dear. 

In this is indicated the harmony, the accord of the 
inner, experiencing life with the outer, active life, and 
the animating, delightful influence of the play. 

Yet, before we advance further in the onward develop- 
ment of the free play with the ball, we will first pause to 
consider another side of the play with the ball, which is 
in a certain respect related to it- 
It will not have escaped the notice of the reader of this 
book that whenever an opportunity presents itself to chil- 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD. 149 

dren they throw the ball upon an inclined surface — for 
example, on a roof — that the ball may roll down it, and 
they standing below may catch it in the hand. 

Seeing this, one can sing with the child, and accord- 
ing to his experience : • 

Off 1 send thee ; 
Yet thou lov'st me, 
And show'st to me 
Thy constancy. 
The shortest track 
Will bring thee back, 
Straight back to me. 

The appearance and meaning of this play are inclind^ 
tion and union ; the straight path is under certain con- 
ditions the nearest way, at least the straight line is always 
the shortest. Or, further : 

The higher goes my ball, 
The swifter it will fall ; 
And yet I always see 
It coming back to me. 

Object observed and meaning : the greater the space 
through which it falls and the longer the unobstructed 
line of its fall, the quicker is the movement, the stronger 
is the action and power of the falling body. If one wishes 
to point out this latter phenomenon for children somewhat 
older, one can add, singing to the ball as if from the mouth 

of the child : 

Yes, the greater space 
Does not destroy your force, 
But makes it more, of course. 
Did I not perceive it, 
I scarcely would believe it. 

Yet the child is delighted not only by the rebound of 
the ball from the slanting surface and the catching it 



150 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

again, but also with its rebound from the flat wall, as 
will be noticed everywhere where children are. One can 
sing to the child again, as it were, from its own mouth, 
the following. We will, however, let the little songs, for 
better understanding, follow in descending series : 

I throw my ball against the wall, 
Back to my hand now flies ray ball. 
Again I throw it far away, 
But far from me it will not stay. 

ball ! what can the reason be. 
Thou always comest back to me ? 

This is a hint of the elasticity of the ball, etc. 

Or: 

1 long to catch thee. 
Quickly to snatch thee ; 
Come like an arrow 
Let loose from a bow ; 
Come like the wind 

Which from hill-tops doth blow. 
Thou bringest to me 
Much pleasure, much glee. 

Or: 

Fly from the wall, 
Back to me, ball ! 
And as you spring, 
Joy to me bring ! 

Hand, 
Wall; 
Spring, 
Ball. 

Now, since the child has practiced itself in this way in 
catching the ball, we return to the free manipulation of 
it, or rather to the manipulation of it in perfectly free 
space. We were considering above the play in which the 
child threw the ball from one hand to the other ; now 



Or, briefly : 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD. 151 

we will also bring into the play the act of throwing it or 
tossing it vertically into the air. The child first tosses 
the ball into the air, then catches it again with the same 
hand, tosses it into the other hand from this again back 
into the first hand, which, as in the beginning of the play, 
tosses it again into the air, and again catches it, then again 
tosses it into the other hand, and so goes on as before. 
Upon this one can sing to the child, and perhaps later 

sing with him : 

Go up, 
Down fall ; 
Fly off, 
Come, ball. 

Up to this point we have merely represented plays in 
which the child played alone. But the pleasure and live- 
liness, and, as the children themselves call it, the fun of 
the play, will soon bring a second, a companion to the one 
player. 

They can then again begin with the simple tossing 
back and forth to each other, and they can themselves 
sing, or the nurse can at first sing to them or with them, 

as above indicated : 

Over there, 

Over here, 

Quickly 

'Twill spring ; 

Clearly 

We'll sing. 

A song to it, dear ; 

A song to it, dear. 

But this play can also soon, especially for skillful chil- 
dren, receive a very simple but considerably extended 
alteration. Instead of the tossing being done from the 
right hand into the left hand opposite, or from both 
hands into both hands as in the former play, it can now 



152 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

be varied by oblique movements, for example, thus : from 
the right hand of the first the ball goes in an oblique direc- 
tion to the right hand of the second boy ; from this hand 
again in a straight direction to the left hand of the first, 
and from this again in a slanting direction to the left 
hand of the second boy ; he now with his left hand throws 
the ball back into the right hand of the first boy, who then 
begins the play anew. To this can be sung : 

There and here, 
Straight across, 
And then obUque. 
There and here, 
Straight across, 
And then obhque. 
We will tightly 
Weave in playing. 
Good work wins the 
Mother's praises ; 
But, alas ! now 
All is in pieces. 

A symbolical portrayal of an activity without any visi- 
ble results. 

But the first play, the simple throwing or tossing to 
one another, may also be extended in the following beau- 
tiful manner : While the two players toss the ball to each 
other, they either alternately or both at the same time 
recede from each other by a short step, and at the same 
time, in proportion to the increasing distance, toss the ball 
to one another in a higher and higher arch, and sing : 

Going high, now, 
Lightly fly now. 

In an arc. 
Always farther. 
Always farther 

Be the mark. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OP THE CHILD. 153 

A very beautiful alternation in the form of an exten- 
sion to this play may be produced if two balls are taken, 
so that each player holds one which he tosses to his fel- 
low ; this play can be accompanied by the following 
words, sung or spoken : 

If now we balls are two, 

We'll show you something new ; 

See I now a race we try, 

And in a race we fly, 

Each to the other's hand. 

But this play can be also sung alone by a child prac- 
ticed in these exercises, in which case the conclusion of 
the song is different, viz. : 

Each to the other hand. 

It can be seen from this how these plays are not only 
precisely adapted to the developed strength and acquired 
skill of the child, but that also both strength and skill are 
developed by the plays, which are a measure of their de- 
velopment. 

But more than two, three, or four children, placing 
themselves in a triangle or quadrangle, can at the same 
time take part in this play, so that the first child always 
throws the ball to the second child, the second to the 
third, and so on. Since now a greater interval of time 
elapses before the ball comes to be caught, the desire 
is increased in the child that the ball may now also 
come to him ; this the children can now again sing, for 

example : 

Ball, I have 
A great desire 

You to seize ; 
Quickly come here, 
If you please. 
13 



154 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

If there are four, Jive, or six children or more, one can 
sing to them, and they can sing to themselves, or rather 

to their ball : 

Gayly to wander 
Prom one to another, 
Ball, fly up so, 
High in a bow. 
For you to seize 
Will me much please. 

The expression of both is the yearning to subordinate 
one's self to a higher general law of life, and to a higher 
requirement of life. 

When the number of the playing children increases to 
six, or perhaps eight, and the ability to play has risen to 
skillf ulness — indeed, to a high degree of accomplishment — 
one can also bring into the play two or more balls in the 
proportion to the number of children ; for example, a 
green, a red, a yellow, so that they, like flowers, may wind 
themselves into a garland. To this may be sung : 

Dear little balls, 

Your places take, 
Swinging and dancing, 

A wreath to make, 
You, like flowers 

Intertwining, 
Should be ready 

For combining. 

Here enters now especially the subordination to the 
law of motion, which is just what makes the orderly, con- 
certed, and especially the circling movements and activi- 
ties of all plays, not only so animating, but also so forma- 
tive, so uniting. Being in harmony not only with the 
higher life of Nature, but even with the higher human 
life, and introducing the child into those phases of life 



THE DEVELOPMENT OP THE CHILD. 155 

these plays unfold to receive and become penetrated by 
these two kinds of life, and they can not be too carefully 
cultivated, and can not be represented with too much 
purity, clearness, and accordance with the laws of life. 

We now again return to the plays in which an outside 
foreign object (for example, a wall) is brought into the 
play. These plays admit of new adaptations, in which 
two or more children take part, especially now since the 
development of the whole system of plays has made some 
essential progress. The familiar game of the apprentice 
and master worTcman finds here not only a place quite 
suitable for it, but it comes forth here wholly rejuvenated 
from the living whole of the plays, and as a new thing. 
We will assume that there are four children of about the 
same age and development. The first, A (for example, 
Augustus), begins to throw the ball at the wall, so that it 
rebounds and falls into his hand, held open to catch 
it ; he sings, meanwhile, and the rest accompany him 

in chorus : 

Tap, tap, tap ! 
Springing from the wall straight back,* 
You to catch will well please me ; 
An apprentice then I'll be. 

One after another of the four players takes his turn in 
throwing the ball ; those who could not catch the ball but 
let it fall to the ground remain mere candidates, and 
must begin anew with the next round of the game. We 
will suppose this to have been the case with B (for exam- 
ple, Bernhard). 

Now the second round begins, or, in other words, the 
new contest. The first player. A, sings ; the others ac- 
company him, singing, or merely saying, in chorus : 

* As it were, by its own volition. 



156 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Tap, tap, tap ! 
Quickly * from the wall spring back ; 
You to catch will well please me ; 
One time, two times, three times, four times, five times, 
Then a journeyman I'll be. 

We will assume A to have also here again fortunately 
succeeded and attained the rank of journeyman. But B, 
who in the first round did not reach the rank of appren- 
tice, but was obliged to remain in the rank of candidacy, 
must now begin anew, as above said, and we will assume 
that he now attains the rank of apprentice. 

Now steps forward C (for example, Carl). He suc- 
ceeds likewise as did A ; for he arose to the rank of an 
apprentice in the first game, and we assume that he, like 
A, now ascends to the rank of journeyman. D, however, 
can not fulfill the requirements for admission to this rank ; 
he can not catch the hall once during the singing of the 
journeyman song ; but the ball sinks to the ground before 
the song is ended, and hence D must remain in the rank 
of apprentice. A and C alone have reached the journey- 
man stage. 

Kow begins the third round. A again steps forth 
first. The others accompany him, singing, or merely 
speaking , in chorus : 

Tap, tap, tap ! 
Springing from the wall far back, 
You to catch will well please me ; 
One time, two times, three times, . . . ten times, 
Then I can a master be. 

And A has now actually become a master. B must 
repeat the song of the journeymmi stage and fulfill its 
requirements, which D must also afterward do. C also 

* As if quickening its motion by its own power. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD. 157 

raises himself to the rank of master. Thus A and C are 
now masters^ B and D journeymen, 

Now begins the fourth round. 

A again first enters the lists ; he says or sings, and the 
others accompany him in chorus : 

Tap, tap, tap ! 
Springing from the wall high up, 
You to catch will well please me, 
One time, two times, three times, . . . twenty times, 
A head master then I'll be. 

But A has not fulfilled the requirement of the song ; he 
yet remains at the master stage. 

B sings the master song and rises to a master, 

C attains the head-master stage. D only can not ful- 
fill the demands of the master stage, but remains at the 
journeyman stage. 

What an image of life is now given to the child in this 
simple play, carried out only in its pettiest connections ! 
What genuine education for life, and what an education 
for genuine life ! What a comprehensive instruction 
about life — about true life — taking the whole human be- 
ing into consideration ! What an exercise for life as it is, 
and is to be ! Are there yet directions needed as to the 
details? Not only the developed but the harmoniously 
developed strength, not only the dominion over the out- 
ward but the unison and harmony of the outward with 
the inward, leads to the beautiful goal of life. 

But that the plays may lead to this, it is by no means 
sufiicient to resign the plays to the children ; but it is 
above all quite essential that the spirit of these plays, as 
in general the genuine spirit of all plays and of each play, 
should live in the observant mother or nurse, and, above 
all, in the first genuine teacher. For only on condition 



158 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

that in him lives the genuine spirit of play — i. e., the true 
spirit of life — will he call it forth in the children. Through 
this even the very neighborhood of such a teacher has an 
educating effect — that is to say, it acts like a magnet, 
drawing forth the nobleness, elevation, pure humanity 
lying in the disposition of the child. Therefore now all 
our thoughts and efforts, all our meditations and aspira- 
tions, should be directed to educating and training moth- 
ers and nurses for such fostering of childhood and hu- 
manity. I shall be obliged to return to this subject at 
the close of this article. I must now, first of all, complete 
the discussion of the play lying before us. 

That not only the strength called into activity leads to 
the constant development of the whole life, but that the 
strength adjusted in every direction to the requirements 
of life, so as to produce a harmony, has the same result, 
can be taught to the child by the simple play in which 
the ball is thrown down to a level plane surface, and 
bounding from this perpendicularly into the air, is driven 
back again and again by the flat hand to the plane sur- 
face. This play can be accompanied by the words sung 
or spoken by the child, or by the attentive teacher : 

Spring I spring ! spring ! 
You are a brave thing ; 
On the ground you will not lie, 
Always up from it you fly. 

Your own force 

Does, of course, 
Take you up so high. 

The child not only finds outside of himself in play, 
indeed by his play, and indeed by his plaything the ball 
(although it be a so-called lifeless body), that use of the 
strength incrycases the strength, and that orderly employ- 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD. I59 

ment of the strength prolongs its use ; but he perceives 
this fact of his own accord, and as a fact of his own 
nature, and not merely as an external fact limited in its 
application to his play or to his plaything. Therefore 
the child now likes to sing at each suitable opportunity to 
its ball, playing with it at the same time : 

How much my ball I prize ! 
My strength I exercise — 
All my strength on thee. 
Joy thou bringest me. 

To catch thee I must try 
Quickly to spring, and high. 
If I can succeed, 
I am glad, indeed. 

When to catch I'm ready, 
Must my eye be steady, 
And, in glad play, see 
No other aim than thee. 

My hollowed hands I learn 
Always to thee to turn ; 
If thou dost in them fall, 
How glad I am, my ball ! 

How much my ball I prize ! 
My strength I exercise — 
All my strength on thee. 
Dear ball, stay with me ! 

Hence the meaning of the play is to apply a similar 
procedure to a solution of the highest problem of life, and 
to hold fast the one high purpose amid all the vicissitudes 
of time and place. 

Little as it has been possible for us up to this point to 
present an exhaustive or complete view of the manifold 
details of the plays and occupations already discussed and 
tested in many of their applications, and to show them in 



160 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

their influence upon the whole human being, in their de- 
veloping and training effects on the human being as a 
child, yet we hope that we have proved our thesis even 
through this brief presentation from life, since it is de- 
rived clearly and unequivocally as a strict consequence 
from our insight into child nature. We have tried to 
show that through such a childhood and child nurture as 
that here aimed at and mapped out, the child is influ- 
enced, developed, and cultivated, in the totality of his na- 
ture and in the all-sidedness of his being and life. You 
will also perceive how, through this, it will be quite suf- 
ficient for the purpose of the education of children (and 
this is the only true purpose) that there may be offered to 
the child through these plays and occupations — that is, 
through the free sway and action of their pure and unit- 
ing influence (especially in the earliest and first founda- 
tions of this education), and in such a form that he may 
receive it into his life — all that we always yearn to obtain 
for him as his portion on his long life-path. 

It is therefore impossible for us longer to repress the 
thought and wish that these plays might be an undisputed 
possession of the child- world. And then with this the 
genuine and original spirit of child life, and of humanity, 
could make itself everywhere free, and through the spirit 
of these plays be clearly recognized. 

But now how shall we reach this result most effectively 
and easily, and at the same time make sure that these 
plays shall be also the possession of the individual fami- 
lies, and that their spirit, above all, may be the spirit of 
the individual family life, of the family sitting-room as 
well as of the nursery ? Even through the introduction of 
these plays and occupations into the numerous infant 
schools already existing in many places, where the chil- 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD. 161 

dren till now were too little employed, or not judiciously — 
that is to say, not self-actively enough. Something essen- 
tial could be gained by their introduction into these infant 
schools, because the children would then bring these fun- 
damental and culture-giving occupations home with them 
from the school and introduce them into the family life. 
These would serve for judicious and useful self-occupation 
and further culture for themselves, as well as for their broth- 
ers and sisters, and for their companions and playmates ; 
and these things would even be worthy of the notice of their 
parents. However, we must consider these plays in their 
reference to the totality of human development, and on 
account of their pure human influence, as a common pos- 
session of the whole child-world. The mere introduction 
into the institutions for the care of little children, and 
the so-called infant schools now existing, greatly as its 
realization is to be desired and striven for, can there- 
fore, in many respects, especially for the reasons just 
given, by no means suffice. But these plays should first 
of all become a common possession of those families 
whose children (so greatly needing satisfactory care and 
nurture) are not provided for by such institutions. There- 
fore, in such places as are pointed out by the demands of 
life as well as by the favorableness of the situation, there 
should be established ly the union of intelligent fami- 
lies blessed with children of the proper age, such institu- 
tions for the bodily as well as spiritual nurture of the 
whole period of infancy, in which under the guidance of 
one trained for the purpose, the activity of the children 
should be carefully fostered and nourished in the way 
here pointed out, although at first only during a few 
hours of the day. 

The children will thus be soon fitted quietly to carry 



162 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

out and apply for themselves, although under the eyes of 
the parents at home, what they learned in the institution. 
In this way will suitable occupation for children influ- 
encing the life of the child, as a whole, enter the families. 
But in the families themselyes, as a whole, true associated 
family life, which is in itself as elevating as it is rejuve- 
nating, will be again formed by the new, uniting, instruct- 
ive, and hence entertaining, things which the children 
bring home from this institution of nurture and employ- 
ment. This reformation will be further aided by the sym- 
pathy which (according to experience) they will find in 
the parental and family circle, and thus the family will 
become again the temple and sanctuary for the nurture 
and preservation of pure human life. And this will be 
made sure because the several families would unite them- 
selves in this associated [gemeinsam — describes what is 
done for a mass or collective whole rather than for a sin- 
gle individual — hence a school] nurture of life, and bring 
together their children as if to a genuine family festival. 

Therefore we make this precise, clear, well-established 
proposition, and — according to the well-weighed facts 
lying before us, and the needs of the children, parents, 
and families, as well as of the collective whole of the rela- 
tions of life, clearly recognized and proved by us — we most 
earnestly summon all to the accomplishment of this plan. 
Our plan is this, namely, that first of all, in the cities 
best adapted to the purpose, families already united in 
themselves and by their nature, inspired by the same 
genuine love and care for their children, feeling them- 
selves humanly connected with each other, having a re- 
ciprocal human respect for one another, may also by asso- 
ciation form societies for the establishment of institutions 
which have for their aim and the point of union of their 



THE DEVELOPMENT OP THE CHILD. 1G3 

collective life the careful preservation and harmonious 
development of their children, especially by fostering 
their impulse for activity in a manner worthy of hu- 
manity. The beneficial results, the blessings of such in- 
stitutions for the domestic as well as for the public life, 
for the life of the citizen as well as for that of common 
humanity, would be quite incalculable, and would develop 
endlessly. For all that has now been done as well in pub- 
lic life as in private associations and families for the fos- 
tering care of childhood ; for the observation, develop- 
ment, and guidance of the children in their first years of 
life and up to the proper age for school, suits as little the 
present state of human development, the present state of 
social and civil life, as it suits the present state of human 
knowledge or the advance of science, of art, and of the 
trades. And it is so limited in respect to the true com- 
prehension of the totality of human life, in regard to the 
means of development, education, and training which are 
at our command, that the necessary means must be sought 
to provide what is more satisfactory for the guidance of 
children from their first childhood up to the commence- 
ment of the school period. But this means is simply the 
voluntary association of like-minded families to form or- 
ganizations in order to afford a system of nurture adapted 
to the guidance and employment of those of their children 
who are not yet fit for school — in short, to give such chil- 
dren all that which they must require in accordance with 
their nature ; and, indeed, what the parents must demand 
for them, in conformity with the needs of the present life. 
As now the situation of all the relations of life, with 
the greatest earnestness, calls upon families to form such 
united organizations for the associated (gemeinsam) guar- 
dianship and guidance of their younger children, brought 



164 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

together for the purpose at least for a few hours of the 
day ; we recognize also the duty on our part to work with 
them with all our powers, and to lend them a helping 
hand in carrying out these organizations by elaborating 
and presenting the means best adapted to the object, as 
well as by training for it the requisite directors and teach- 
ers. It therefore not only lies in the aim of this joint 
undertaking on account of the high importance of the 
object, but it even makes an essential part of it to call 
into life an institution for the education or preparation 
of teachers trained for the care of childhood. This should 
be founded here at the same time with it — in accordance 
with the needs repeatedly expressed to us for the purpose 
often indicated, namely, the observation of the life of 
children, and the preparation of teachers through this 
observation, and especially through fostering their tend- 
ency to creative activity and play — in other words, their 
impulse to constantly busy themselves. Therefore this 
would be a training school in which leaders and edu- 
cators can directly have charge of a number of children 
in the period before the school age, and for the inculca- 
tion of the first elements and instruction of sense-percep- 
tion. We will therefore willingly impart the necessary 
information to parents, and especially to large associations 
of families that may be inclined not only to take into 
earnest consideration the ideas here expressed, but also 
to carry them out. We would explain in this connection 
that we have entered into association with women and 
men who love children and childhood for the satisfactory 
and comprehensive execution of this design. We have a 
sufficient number of children of suitable age, and, in addi- 
tion to this, the means required. The locality chosen for 
the institution is situated in a favorable spot, surrounded 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD. 165 

by rich and beautiful scenery, and the power of a pure, 
human, associated effort will essentially favor the carrying 
out of the idea and plan. 

May the idea find deeply reaching accord as well as 
genuine sympathy in its behalf, for the sake of the welfare 
of the children as well as of the families ; may it benefit 
entire communities and the entire human race, and thus 
prove a blessing to the individual as well as to the whole ! 



XL 

THE FOUETH PLAY OF THE CHILD. 
(See Plates VI, vn, VHI, IX.) 

The Child akd the Play. 

Before we give the child a new play, a new means of 
fostering his tendency to employment, let us seek to make 
ourselves familiar with the exact state of cultivation to 
which the little one has been raised by the means of de- 
velopment hitherto provided for him, and with the further 
requirements of this stage of cultivation. Kot only what 
we give hereafter to the child may by such knowledge be 
made actually to exert a beneficial influence in his life, but 
also we, as conscious givers, may know what onward de- 
velopment is to be effected in the child in harmony with 
the development of his whole life by means of the gift ; 
and the child may thus confide in us more and more, may 
so much the more willingly receive our gift, and so much 
the more compliantly take it into his life. For the deep, 
though to the child himself unconscious, cause of angelic 
purity, the confidence, peace, and joy with which in his 
yet serene childhood he receives gifts from his parents 
and from all those who love him, is that he trustingly 
feels that they give him exactly that which for the mo- 
ment is beneficial to his inner as well as to his outer life ; 
they do not give him a hard stone instead of nourishing 
bread ; they do not give him a poisonous serpent instead 



THE FOURTH PLAY OF THE CHILD. 167 

of the joyous fish which gayly plays in the water and in 
the sun. Parents, nurses, and kindergartners should spare 
no effort to preserve this childish faith and confidence. 
Their effort should be the more strenuous because the 
child's feelings, are on the one hand, unconscious, uncon- 
firmed, and unfortified, and, on the other, because precisely 
these unconscious feelings are the soil from and in which 
sprout forth and grow the most beautiful blossoms and 
plants, the most glorious fruits of life. 

But how is this result attained ? Manifestly through 
the child's oft-repeated experience that what fatherly care 
and motherly love now give him is precisely what he 
needs for the fostering and development of his life ; and, 
furthermore, that fatherly wisdom and motherly love 
know how to adapt to his present condition and needs 
even what befalls him through chance or accident. But 
just as these experiences confirm faith, opposite ones de- 
stroy it. If parents offer to the child at any stage of de- 
velopment either what he does not then need (though it 
be intrinsically good and useful), or if they offer it to him 
in a form wherein he is unable to recognize that which 
has a beneficial effect upon his life, they will inevitably 
weaken and indeed destroy (though unconsciously to the 
child himself) his belief that his parents bear within 
themselves his whole life, and that they are interested not 
so much in the outward aspects of that life as in the 
child's inner nature and its necessary requirements. Such 
a course of action has, moreover, other and even more in- 
jurious effects. Through the child's effort to repel that 
which is contrary to the needs of his life, indignation and 
discontent are wakened in his soul ; and, on the other 
hand, from the fact that his normal desires are ungrati- 
fied, they become inordinate and mischievous. 



168 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

How may parents, nurses, and kindergartners obtain 
means of opposing these evil results ? Most satisfactorily 
through a threefold and yet single glance at life. Let 
them first look into themselves and into their own course 
of development, its phenomena and requirements; let 
them recall their own earliest years, and their later stages 
of development, and look deeply into their own present 
life. Next, let them look as deeply as possible into the 
life of the child, and into what he must necessarily re- 
quire for his present stage of development. Having recog- 
nized what the child needs, let them scrutinize his envi- 
ronment, and observe, first, what it offers and does not 
offer for the fulfillment of such requirements. Let them 
utilize all offered possibilities of meeting normal needs ; 
and when such needs can not be met, let them recognize 
this fact, and show the child plainly the impossibility of 
their fulfillment. Finally, let them clearly recognize what- 
ever in the child's environment tends to waken antagonism 
and discontent, to remove it if it be removable, and admit 
its defect if it be not removable. 

The child very often seeks for something without at 
all knowing what he seeks; in like manner he repels 
something without at all knowing why, for this some- 
thing was dear to him, and is so still under certain con- 
ditions. Yet the child does not for this reason turn away 
accidentally, neither does he seek the accidental ; but he 
seeks that which is indeed unfamiliar to him but still 
suited to his present stage of development. Generally, it 
is the novel for which he seeks, but not a novelty which 
has no connection with what has hitherto been, for that, 
should it appear, would obstruct development. He seeks 
the new which has developed from the old, like the bud 
from the branch. The child seeks a new, unexpected 



THE FOURTH PLAY OF THE CHILD. 169 

turn ; a new, unexpected use of a thing ; new, unexpected 
properties ; new and yet unconsciously anticipated de- 
velopments ; a new, unexpected connection with his life ; 
and thus, above all, a new connection of his life with that 
of his parents, of adults, from whom he hopes for and 
receives suitable life food. The child indeed seeks for the 
new that is outside of himself, but not on account of its 
externality. Really he is seeking the new, of which he 
feels premonitions in himself in his own development. 
Since, however, he does not yet know this and so can not 
give an account of it, the child seeks especially for change^ 
in order, as has already been intimated, to gain a means 
of growing up within himself and of growing forth out- 
wardly from himself. 

Above all, therefore, it is the old within the child 
which clarifies, unfolds, and transmutes itself, thus de- 
veloping that which is new. The whole process takes 
place according to a definite law resting in the child him- 
self, in his life, in life as such. Hence it is that the child 
unconsciously (yet for this very reason positively) de- 
mands that not only all may unfold around him accord- 
ing to definite laws, but that this external development 
shall make known to him its law, and thus the law of his 
own life, the union or opposition of the two, and conse- 
quently the higher relativity of life. 

But for the attainment of all this it is, as already 
stated, necessary that educators should always carry in 
themselves, as a whole, the course of development, the 
course of cultivation of the child. 

But now how has the child developed up to this point ? 
How have the world, the objects, and things around him 
developed ? 

How has the child developed himself, especially through 



170 PEDAGOGICS OP THE KINDERGARTEN. 

the means of play and employment which have thus far 
been given to him ? 

The brightening light in the child's mind illuminates 
the objects around him. In proportion, therefore, as the 
inner light increases, the nature of external objects grows 
clear to him. In proportion as he perceives in his own 
life a definite course of development, and recognizes it as 
a law of development — in proportion as he perceives in 
his own life a process of development — he will recognize a 
process of development in things around him. In pro- 
portion as he learns to reason from effect to cause and 
from cause to effect within himself, will he recognize 
causality in the external world. In proportion as he 
recognizes within himself that the course of development 
indicates a law of development, will he recognize this law 
in its external manifestations. This process and law of de- 
velopment is no other than that of progression from the 
unlimited to the limited, from the general to the special, 
from unity to individuality, from embryonic to structural 
life, from the whole to the part, from an undifferentiated 
to a membered totality. 

In conformity with this law the child has been edu- 
cated up to this point through the gifts already consid- 
ered ; for the education which brings peace and blessing 
to children and to human beings in general is that which 
early suggests the truth that the outer world in its es- 
sence does not hinder but helps the life of the soul. Such 
help, however, is realized only in proportion as the inner 
and outer worlds are comprehended in their essence, their 
destiny, and their polar opposition. Thus understood, 
the outer world not only corresponds wholly to the re- 
quirements of the inner world, but even comes to meet 
them, and represents the inner world in and through itself. 



THE FOURTH PLAY OF THE CHILD. 171 

The man advanced in insight should be as clear as 
possible in his own mind about all this before he intro- 
duces his pupil or his child into the outer world. Even 
when he gives the child a plaything he must make clear 
to himself its purpose, and the purpose of playthings and 
occupation material in general. This purpose is, to aid 
the child to freely express what lies within him — to bring 
phenomena of the outer world nearer to him, and thus to 
serve as mediator between the mind and the world. 

Eecognizing the mediatorial character of play and 
playthings, we shall no longer be indifferent either to the 
choice, the succession, or the organic connection of the 
toys we give to children. In those I offer them I shall 
consider as carefully as possible how the child may, in 
using them, unfold his nature freely and yet in accord- 
ance with law, and how through such use he may also 
learn to apprehend external things correctly and employ 
them justly. 

As the child's first consciousness of self was born of 
physical opposition to and connection with the external 
world,* so through the play with the ball the external world 
itself began to rise out of chaos and assume definiteness. In 
recognizing the ball the child moved from the indefinite to 
the definite, from the universal to the particular, from mere 
externality to a self -included, space-filling object. In the 
ball, especially through the movement^ through the oppo- 
sites of rest and motion, through departing and return- 
ing, the object came forth out of general space as a spe- 
cial space-filling object, as a tody ; just as the child, by 
means of his life, also perceives himself, his corporeal 
frame, as a space-filling object, as a tody. The child has 

* See, in Mutter und Kose Lieder, The Kicking Song. 



172 PEDAGOGICS OP THE KINDERGARTEN. 

thus obtained two important terms of comparison for his 
first intellectual development : body and body, object and 
object. But just on that account it is by no means un- 
important what kind of an object, what kind of a body is 
given to the child for comparison — that is, for play and 
playing. He feels and perceives himself as life ; so he 
may and does perceive the ball at least, outside of himself 
in motion and as motion. 

At the same time there begins in the child, as in a 
seed-corn, a development advancing toward manifoldness. 
For this reason he should receive a corresponding seed- 
corn in the object which he first detaches as object from 
the external chaos. Such object should, like himself, in- 
clude an indefinite manifoldness, and be susceptible of a 
progressive development. Such an object is the ball. 

The second gift consists of a sphere and cube, and 
illustrates the idea of a self -opposed unity. Through the 
simplest of contrasting forms it calls the child's attention 
to differences of form. In the sphere is accentuated unity 
of form, yet it has the three dimensions of space and 
contains the possibility of the threefold division which 
the cube makes outwardly manifest. Thus the sphere 
illustrates the undeveloped unity of form ; the cube, the 
differentiation of form. This second gift, moreover, re- 
tains and develops the movableness already illustrated 
with the ball, and, what is particularly interesting, devel- 
ops it chiefly through exercises with the very body (the 
cube) which in its form embodies the idea of rest. (Com- 
pare section 53.) 

In the cube, divided once through the middle parallel 
with its sides in all three directions, and so into eight 
parts, each of the qualities of the whole or principal cube 
is shown eight times (achtmal) ; thus requiring (as we be- 



THE FOURTH PLAY OF THE CHILD. 1Y3 

fore explained this numerical word), to rightly consider 
(achten) [one of Froebel's etymologies or puns] each of 
these qualities. Thus the three different kinds of inner 
directions (surface, edge, and corner direction) come forth 
very remarkably by means of the divided cube ; but, above 
all, the three principal directions^ the three surface direc- 
tions which stand at right angles to each other. These 
three directions, however, are still undistinguished by 
difference of dimension, and no inner variety is brought 
to light. Hence, ly and through them, each can be 
placed in the position of the other. Through the build- 
ing and grouping of these eight component cubes, how- 
ever, there is temporarily manifest a difference between 
the three principal directions standing at right angles to 
each other, as lengthy breadth^ and height (or as length, 
breadth, and thickness), but as abiding properties deter- 
mining the form these differences of dimension are still 
lacking. (Compare section 7, page 1.) 

Hence a new gift is demanded — a gift wherein the 
length, breadth, and thickness of a solid body shall be dis- 
tinguished from each other by difference of size. Such a 
gift will open the child's eyes to the three dimensions of 
space, and will serve also as a means of recognizing and 
interpreting the manifold forms and structures with 
which he is constantly brought in contact. Such a gift 
is the cube divided into eight equal oblong prisms or 
parallelepipeds. This is, therefore, the fourth gift of the 
means of play and employment, which now follows. 
Through this gift the child receives a fixed measure both 
for permanent and vanishing forms, and thus he is able 
to produce a richer variety of figures and to recognize 
them in the forms which surround him. Hence the new 
gift corresponds both to his increasing constructive ability, 



174 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

and to his growing capacity to comprehend the external 
world. 

We beg those parents and friends who have atten- 
tively followed us up to this point in the presentation of 
our means of employment for children to pause here a 
moment, in order to notice the simplicity and certainty 
with which the process of development that has been 
recognized as true is followed out, and the conditions of 
satisfactory human education fulfilled. 

One of the fundamental principles of such a process 
of development is that each object given must condition 
the one which follows ; each new gift fulfills and interprets 
its predecessor, by making explicit what it implied. The 
child must receive no new gift which was not suggested 
by that which preceded it, neither must we require of him 
anything not conditioned by his previous achievements. 
Both these requirements find themselves wholly fulfilled 
in the sequence of gifts furnished up to this point, as has 
been already definitely shown in many points of view in 
the foregoing pages. 

Another requirement of a satisfactory human educa- 
tion is this : that each object shall appear to the child as a 
self-included whole, and at the same time, through a many- 
sided connection, as a part of a greater whole. This re- 
quirement is also met clearly in each of the means of play 
hitherto furnished ; each is in itself a complete whole ; 
each stands in active connection with those which precede 
and follow it ; each bears them partially within itself, 
presents them from itself, and can develop them. 

Another fundamental idea is, that all knowledge and 
comprehension of life are connected with making the in- 
ternal external, the external internal, and with perceiving 
the harmony and accord of both. As the sphere (and still 



THE FOURTH PLAY OF THE CHILD. 1Y5 

more the cube), makes more and more externally percepti- 
ble its own internal being, and that of other objects (for 
example, middle and directions, etc.), so, on the other 
hand, the child through its use learns to recognize both 
its own internal characteristics and the internal charac- 
teristics of external objects in general, and through such 
recognitions rises into knowledge of the world and of 
himself. 

What a quiet, clear advance in the development of the 
child, as well as in the unfolding of the outer world, is 
thus given ! How would it be possible to render promi- 
nent on all sides even an intimation of it in its particulars ? 

The Cube divided into Eight Buildii^g Blocks — 

THE FOUKTH GiFT OF THE SeEIES— ITS NaTUEE. 

Plaything and play receive a quite new significance 
by the above-given alteration, which is not only simple 
but even almost insignificant — namely, that the inner dif- 
ference, intimated in the three perpendicular axes of the 
cube (and the sphere), now becomes externally visible and 
abiding in each of its building blocks as a difference of 
size. 

While the forms produced with the preceding gift 
were massive and space-filling, those produced with the 
fourth gift incline toward surface forms, may be given 
either a horizontal or vertical position, and are space- 
bounding and inclosing. 

These forms are also divided into forms of life, of 
beauty, and of knowledge. Especially in comparison with 
the forms of the preceding play, the latter have the pecul- 
iarity that they show more the extension of surface and 
length ; yet all forms — a few square surfaces excepted — 
are confined to rectangles. Thus the relations of form 



176 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

and size of the square and rectangle especially are here 
presented to the perception. (Compare Plate VI, which 
contains about half of these forms.) In addition to these, 
two more new phenomena come forth with this play: 
these are equilibrium and self -propagating movement. 

Use of the Play. 

Necessity, accident, or, in short, free play as such, re- 
ceives here also its due. The only requirement is that a 
name be quickly given to what has originated under the 
hand of the child. The name defines the object produced 
by connecting it with something familiar. Thus the first 
forms are often a small liouse^ a room^ a taUe^ chairs and 
benches, etc. But pleasure is given even by merely build- 
ing up the blocks so that the form may be kept in place 
by equilibrium and gravity ; and it is then a high toivery or 
perhaps the staircase, which pleases the child. He is also 
pleased by the fact that what is built up separates easily 
into its parts again. Let no one doubt that the child's 
inner development is furthered by these building exercises, 
though no abiding result in the way of outward represen- 
tation is obtained. By this building the child compre- 
hends the form and use of the single part just in propor- 
tion as he receives into himself an abundance of perceptions 
and conceptions. We must, however, never forget to talk 
with the child about what he does, or at least designate 
the result clearly and precisely, with suitable words, so 
that through the name the child's thought may be 
aroused, and he may never play heedlessly even when he 
plays alone. In other words, let us form such habits of 
attention that the child will never play without precisely 
grasping and comprehending inwardly what he has out- 
wardly represented. 



THE FOURTH PLAY OF THE CHILD. 177 

As all representations are connected with an inner 
precise condition^ so here. This condition is simply that 
before expressed, that for every representation, whether 
simple or compound, whether the parts are connected or 
separate (as, for example, a monument, a garden wall, or 
a village), all the blocks should be used, or, at least, be 
put in connection with the form. The aim of this con- 
dition also, as has been already clearly stated, is manifold : 
firstly, that the child should not busy himself thoughtlessly y 
but should have in view a definite aim for his action, or 
at least be incited to perceive an aim ; secondly, that he 
should view the object to be represented in many-sided 
references and connections, which is necessary when, for 
example, an unused block is to be put in necessary con- 
nection with the object already represented ; thirdly, and 
lastly, that the child should employ all the material lefore 
him, and leave 7iothing unconsidered and unused. Through 
fulfilling these conditions the child develops on the one 
hand his powers of perception and conception, and on the 
other the more spiritual powers of fantasy and inner con- 
templation. 

We have above stated that necessity, accident, or free 
play determines the first use of the new gift. We will 
now indicate the next thing to be done. The mother 
takes the play-box, reverses it, placing it with the cover 
on the table, draws out the cover from under the box and 
raises up the latter, so that the cube (Fig. 1, Plate VI) 
stands before the child. The representations may be most 
satisfactorily made on a board or paper provided with a 
square network, each side of the square being of the same 
size or length as the width of a building block. The 
mother transforms the cube, as she speaks, into a fireplace 
in the kitchen, at which she prepares the soup for the 



178 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

hungry child and cooks the food for the father when he 
comes from his work. The fire burns in the middle of 
the fireplace, on the fire-iron. One can go round the fire- 
place in order to poke the fire better, in order to cook the 
food more carefully. 

The soup is ready, the food is cooked. The mother 
and child give the fireplace a push, and it separates into 
stones for building. The fireplace consists of building 
stones of equal size. 

The child wants the soup. The father comes ; he de- 
sires to eat, but there is no table. The material is imme- 
diately changed ; the building stones become building 
blocks^ or boards, and there stands the table (Plate VI, Fig. 
11). But the bench is now lacking ; the chairs, the benches 
are wanted, so that the mother, with the child and the 
father, may sit down to eat. The table (Fig. 11) is 
generally too large, and one half of it (or rather one 
half of its material) is quickly changed to a bench 
(compare Fig. 14, Plate VII) or to two such benches. 
On the one bench the father sits and eats his food ; on 
the other the mother sits with the child and gives it 
its soup. 

Again, the fireplace is separated into parts ; the ma- 
terial does not change. It is summer ; it is a beautiful 
warm evening. The child plays in the yard at the stone 
table or on the stone benches (Plate VII, Fig. 19). The 
father comes and sits down by the child; the mother 
brings him his food and the child its soup. On the 
bench at the right the father sits ; upon the one at the 
left the mother sits with the child. The mother tells 
the father how nicely the child has played, how quietly 
he has occupied himself with his blocks, and thus given 
her time to prepare the food. The father brings the 



THE FOURTH PLAY OF THE CHILD. 179 

child a beautiful blue flower from the field. " See, dear 
child, here is the flower." 

Or, again, another time the stone table and benches are 
viewed as a turf-table and benches ; they stand now, not 
in the yard but in the garden. When the father hears 
that the child has pleased his mother, he goes and picks 
for him the beautiful red flower which nodded to him so 
kindly. 

As two benches (Plate VII, Fig. 13) were formed from 
the one half of the large table (Plate VI, Fig. 11), so two 
more benches are now made from the other half. In the 
middle of the garden is a round plat ; around this stand 
four tenches turned toward it (Plate VII, Fig. 20). See ! 
five little children are playing " Eooms to let." One child 
asks now of one, now of another, " Is there no room to be 
had?" "No chamber to let?" "Is no place open?" 
"All are occupied." See! there two neighbors change 
places, and the questioner has quickly taken the place of 
one of them. 

Another time the children play " Visiting." Each of 
the benches or seats becomes a little house. Or, again, 
the child builds itself a little house or open garden-hut 
(Plate VII, Fig. 23). Visits are paid or received ; or the 
mother sits with the child in one corner. Either she tells 
him something about the carpenter or joiner who has built 
the house of boards and laths, and made it so strong that 
they can sit in it quietly, or the tired child sleeps in the 
mother's arms or on her lap, and she sings to him a little 
slumber-song : 

The child has tired itself of play ; 

Its eyelids droop at close of day ; 

It lies upon its mother's breast, 

To children a sweet place of rest, 
Willingly — yes, willingly ! 



180 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Another time, the mother goes to walk with the child 
in the garden ; but the wind blows strongly, the rain beats 
down ; so she hurries with the child into the " opened 
garden-hut." That has doors, which the mother can shut. 
Now both are safe, for the hut has a roof, so that it can 
not rain in, and doors, so that the wind can not drive the 
rain in. 

In like manner, if some manifestation of the child 
gives occasion thereto, the fact may be brought out that 
the wooden benches and chairs have backs, but the stone 
and turf benches have none. 

It is quite important for the child, and it greatly 
pleases him, to notice how one object springs from another, 
and can be turned into another ; for example, a table (Fig. 
11) into a table and tivo benches (Fig. 13) ; these into four 
benches (Fig. 20), etc. Through such transformations 
" the bench with high back and arms " may be produced 
from the throne (Plate VII, Fig. 22) ; from this bench 
may be made the bench with back, arms, and foot-rest ; 
from this, again, the open garden-hut, etc. This chang- 
ing one thing into another, and so being able to see one 
in another, is what gives the children pleasure and brings 
life into their employment and play. The anticipation of 
a certain necessary inner coherence in the thing, whether 
it be in its form or in its purpose — this manifold percep- 
tion of a certain inner life throughout — not only awakens, 
but fosters and forms the life of the child. Isolation and 
exclusion destroy life ; union and participation create life. 

But living objects also may be represented with the 
blocks ; for example, " six blocks form an avenue ; father 
and mother, brothers or sisters, go to walk in it." Another 
time, " two blocks, laid one on another, with their broad 
sides touching, form a cow, or one standing alone, a calf ; 



THE FOURTH PLAY OF THE CHILD. 181 

in the same manner, three or more blocks form a horse 
and its colt; two blocks joined like a cross represent a 
herdsman" — thus the child has the herd and herdsman. 
Then the herd may be driven in, and presto^ change, six 
blocks form the stable with two stalls ; the two remain- 
ing blocks are two cows, etc. 

These representations are, indeed, not found on the 
lithograph leaves, but we indicate them up here in order to 
show how life itself may be connected with and represented 
by inanimate objects. The scope of this work makes it 
unwise to enter into further detail with regard to the life 
forms which may be produced with the fourth gift. In 
the actual use of this gift with children many more forms 
will be produced; indeed, they have already been pro- 
duced, and shall be indicated hereafter. 

That the salient characteristics and organic members 
of the life forms may be thrown into relief by means of 
stories and talks we have already sufficiently shown, both 
in connection with this gift and with the third gift. What 
has been written should, however, be carefully connected 
with actual use of the gift, and this is especially important 
in those cases where a moving force is manifested out- 
wardly, as equilibrium or as self-propagating activity. 
Self-propagating activity, moreover, may be simple or in 
one single direction, divided or having different direc- 
tions. It may also be uniform or accelerating. [Froebel 
is referring to those exercises with the fourth gift where, 
by arranging the blocks in different groups and striking 
the first block of each group, force is passed along a 
straight line, around a circle, etc.] 

Let us now turn to a new consideration — to the ob- 
servation of the forms of knowledge. 

The whole eight building blocks of the fourth gift, 



182 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

taken collectively, resemble the cube of the third gift; 
therefore its parts (as can be seen at the first glance) sepa- 
rate into equal and proportional parts. This fact is made 
yet more manifest by the play with the blocks. Thus the 
one bench (Plate VI, Fig. 12) is divided into two equal 
benches (Plate VII, Fig. 14), and the bench with the foot- 
rest (Fig. 15) into the two equal benches with foot-rests 
(Fig. 17) ; likewise the table (Plate VI, Fig. 11) into two 
halves, of which the one gives again a table, while the 
outer half appears divided into two halves in the two 
chairs or benches (Fig. 13). So, the fourth gift illustrates 
almost the same relations of size as the cube divided once 
through the middle on all sides, or, in other words, with 
the third gift. Should the relations of size, learned by 
observation and abstracted from the forms of life, be 
looked at purely as relations of size, they would appear in 
the fourth gift more as relations of surface and its exten- 
sion, while with the third gift they appeared as extension 
of solids and as relations of solids. (Compare Plate VIII.) 
The "high wall" (Plate VI, Fig. 8), which one can 
think of when lying on the horizontal surface as a 
" floor " and can actually place thus before the child, 
makes the easiest transition from forms of life to forms 
of knowledge. The treatment of these forms has been 
already shown in general in the illustrative exercises with 
the third gift. The fourth gift, however, throws into re- 
lief the perception of size by showing similarity of size 
with dissimilarity of dimension and position. For exam- 
ple, the gift as a whole may be shown first as a cube (Plate 
VI, Fig. 1), then as a tablet (Plate VIII, Fig. 1). Changes 
such as these between the representations of solids and 
surfaces give the fourth gift a peculiar charm for the 
child: 



THE FOUETH PLAY OF THE CHILD. 183 

As cube I stand here in my place ; 

As surface now, I show my face, 

Yet always am the same — 

I like this pretty game. 

Now without delay 

Divide me in your play ; 

Making fleetly, 

But yet neatly, 

Two quite equal parts. 

While the mother or kindergartner sings this [or some 
better] rhyme, she divides the whole cube by one motion 
into two equal parts. The division may be made either 
vertically or horizontally. In both cases the result is the 
production of two square prisms, the positions of which vary 
according to the manner of division. While the mother 
represents these, she sings in the person of the square to 

the child : 

From above if you divide me, 
Both the halves will be upright ; 
Straight across if you divide me, 
Halves recumbent meet your sight. 
In position not the same ; 
But in size they are the same, 
Each is like the other half. 

If one now wishes to represent more strikingly to the 
child that the size and form remain the same in different 
positions, one places the halves with their broad sides now 
upon one another, thus doubling their height ; now side 
by side, thus doubling their length. In both cases the 
action is interpreted by song : 

Place one half upon one half,* 

The form is high, we see. 

Lay one half beside one half (Plate VIII, Fig. 8), 

A long form this must be ; 

* This illustration is lacking in the plates. 



184 PEDAGOGICS OP THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Yet equal form and size do show 
In each position, as we know. 

The upright rectangle may also be turned by degrees 
on the horizontal plane, as it were, around its middle, or 
like the hand of a clock or watch around one of its ends, 
till it assumes the horizontal position. 

Whether I am high or low, 
Equal form and size I show. 

Then different form with equal size : 

Place one half lefore a half, 

It shows the square complete (Plate VIII, Figs. 3, 5). 

Place the half beside the half, 

And an oblong shape we meet (Plate VIII, Figs. 8, 9). 

Though different the forms may be, 
An equal size in each we see. 

That objects identical in form and size may be pro- 
duced in different ways may also be illustrated in the play 
with the fourth gift. The child's attention should be 
called to all these features of his play sls perceptible facts, 
and nothing should be passed over heedlessly. 

Place a half beside a half, 

It shows the square complete (Plate VIII, Figs. 2, 5). 

Place a half before a half, 

A square form still we meet (Plate VIII, Figs. 3, 6). 

Though made in different ways, 'tis clear 
Equal the size and form appear. 

A new variation of these exercises may be made by 
dividing the square prism into two equal halves and giving 
to one a vertical, to the other a horizontal position. The 
two may then be compared with one another : 



THE FOURTH PLAY OP THE CHILD. 185 

Now I will give you something new, 

Something you will like to do : 

Twice as long and half as wide (Plate VIII, Fig. 3), 

Half as long and twice as wide (Plate VIII, Fig. 2), 

The same size are we two (Plate VIII, Figs. 6, 8). 

From this representation of the whole as a square 
tablet, from halving it in two different ways, and from 
the different possible combinations of these halves, it is 
evident that the fourth gift offers a far greater number 
of forms of knowledge than its predecessor. The plates 
illustrating this gift show a much greater variety of 
forms than is indicated in the text ; and in the descrip- 
tion of the gift others will be mentioned. The hints here 
given suffice to show that the forms of knowledge are 
adapted to children of three and four years of age, and 
that they incite plays which are both spontaneous and 
nourishing to heart and intellect. Yet more than has 
been here presented is represented by the tablet itself, 
and yet more is rendered prominent by the description of 
the play. Yet these few indications for the use of the 
forms of knowledge as play must here suffice; for they 
already show with quite sufficient clearness how their 
contemplation and comprehension are perfectly suited to 
the life, mind, and spirit of children three and four years 
of age, and so wholly adapted to actual free play which 
forms both spirit and heart. The comprehension and 
treatment of the gift by the motherly spirit, and the 
representations and perceptions to which such treatment 
gives rise, will impart to the play a life it is impossible to 
indicate by the lifeless word. When, however, the word 
and play are used to throw light upon each other, the 
exercise is refreshing, elevating, and life-giving. Such 

exercises, moreover, give the child a presentiment of the 
15 



186 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

inner harmony of Nature and life. To lead to compre- 
hension of this harmony is, in a certain sense, the true 
aim of education. 

We now turn to the consideration of forms of beauty y 
or picture forms, or, as they might be called in a figura- 
tive sense, harmonious forms; and perhaps this name 
might also have its good and its developing effect, since it 
is certainly acknowledged that the true comprehension of 
a thing proceeds especially from its connection with its 
opposite ; thus, in this case, from the connection of the 
visible and the audible, of quiescence and movement. 

The transition to the forms of beauty (picture forms, 
or, as we have just called them, harmonious forms) is 
most suitably effected through the forms of knowledge. 
I consider it very important to retain this transition in 
general, and more especially in the life and play with the 
still quite small children. 

If, for example, the four fourths in Fig. 1 or 5, Plate 
VIII, are separated from one another, as in Fig. 4, they 
appear, in a certain point of view, already as a form of 
beauty, since, as the parts appear more manifestly as mem- 
bers of a whole, so also the middle and the unity to which 
they refer in common become more prominent. Now, if 
each of these four members is turned into the opposite 
position, so that the corner of each square or member 
comes to lie where its side lay before, and thus appears 
as an opposite square, and the corners touch at the same 
time, the whole becomes still more definitely a form of 
beauty. 

If, now, each of these four members is further sepa- 
rated into two, and thus the whole four members into 
eight, and they enter in this way into symmetrical refer- 
ence to the invisible but nevertheless determining middle, 



THE FOURTH PLAY OF THE CHILD. 187 

the unity and (by the connecting greater manifoldness) 
the inner beauty of the whole are rendered yet more 
prominent. (Compare Plate IX, Eigs. 1, 3, 3.) But this, 
again, conditions a double variety : either the broad sides 
are turned toward the middle (Figs, la, 2a, and 3a), or 
the end surfaces (Figs, lb, 2b, and 3b). In the latter case 
the form appears radiate; in the former case, circular or 
inclosing. These forms are counterparts. 

The appearance of forms which are at once antithetic 
and related calls for mediation or transition from one to 
the other. Hence the radiate form must be connected 
by intermediate forms with the circular (see Plate IX, 
Figs. 4a, 4b, 4c). Such connecting forms are of two 
kinds : in one kind the radiate form is within the circular ; 
in the other it is outside the circular (Plate IX, Figs. 4a 
and 4b). These transitional forms demand a fresh media- 
tion ; hence the figure (Plate IX, Fig. 4c) where the radi- 
ate form both contains and is contained by the circular. 
(Compare with 4a and 4b.) 

But now what takes place with the building blocks, 
when they rest on their Iroad faces as in the cases indi- 
cated (Figs. 4a, 4b, and 4c), takes place also when they are 
placed on their long^ narrow faces (see Figs. 2a and 2b), 
and appears again when they stand upright on their ends 
(see Figs. 3a and 3c, where the forms on this as on the 
preceding plate are represented in a ground plan ; thus 
as only perceived and comprehended from above). Each 
change of position gives rise to five new forms, and thus 
fifteen forms are produced by placing the blocks first on 
their broadest faces, next on their long, narrow faces, and 
finally on end. If these three different kinds of position 
are connected among themselves, over a hundred new and 
constantly differing forms may be by degrees produced 



188 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

in the course of fostering the child's impulse to develop- 
ment, and can be represented by him, for child-life gives 
time and opportunity enough for this. So originates a 
blissful filling up of many hours which were before un- 
employed by the children ; or, at least employed in un- 
meaning and worthless activity, since in each individual 
form, and yet more in each particular series of forms, lie 
laws of life, of Nature, and in general of formation, which 
in that course of the development of the human being en- 
ter into his consciousness in the comparison with Nature 
and life. 

We must now glance at another consideration, differing 
from the preceding, but not less fruitful for child and 
play as well as for the adult playmate. 

If we survey the forms of beauty produced with the 
fourth gift in their totality and in connection with the 
unity from which they are developed — if, in order to at- 
tain yet greater unity, we compare them with the forms 
of beauty produced with the third gift — it strikes the eye 
very significantly that all these forms and structures rest 
inclosed, wrapped up, as it were, in the form of beauty of 
the third gift as in a bud. We have taken, as a proof of 
this, the form on our Plate IX, Eig. A. The first com- 
paring glance at this, and also at the remaining forms of 
the plate, shows how all forms (and chiefly Figs, la and 
lb. Figs. 2a and 2b, and Figs. 3a and 3b) are conditioned 
— one might say contained — in Fig. A as in a germ or 
bud. But also Figs. 4a, 4b, and 4c, and those correspond- 
ing to them which proceed from the fundamental form 
Figs. 2a and 2b and Figs. 3a and 3b, as well as the yet 
remaining forms which it is possible to develop by the con- 
nection of these two fundamental forms, all rest, as it were, 
veiled in the form of union and unity, Plate IX, Fig. A. 



THE FOURTH PLAY OF THE CHILD. 189 

In and through what characteristic of the fourth gift 
is grounded the vast number of different forms which 
proceed from the single germinal form A ? Is it not be- 
cause the three principal dimensions of space, which in 
the cube only make themselves known as differences of 
position in the fourth gift, become more prominent, and 
manifest themselves as differences of size 9 These three 
relations of size are in the fourth gift as abiding and 
changeless as the position of the three principal direc- 
tions was before and still is. 

If we now admit that every one of the forms of beauty 
produced with the fourth gift may be regarded and used 
as a fundamental form just as well as Fig. A, we can per- 
ceive what a number of forms of beauty (scarcely calcu- 
lable, and yet more difficult to survey at a glance) may be 
produced with this gift, and how, nevertheless, the con- 
ditions for the representation of each longer or shorter 
series may always be given in the most exact and definite 
manner. To illustrate : We may require the child to pro- 
duce either forms whose sides are all equal, or again forms 
whose sides are unequal. Confining our attention to the 
former class, we observe that these may be either encir- 
cling, radiate, or made up of the two. Eestricting our- 
selves again to this third variety of figures, we may still 
further narrow our activity by requiring that the com- 
ponent blocks be placed either on their largest, smallest, 
or intermediate faces. Placing them upon their largest 
faces, we produce the figures shown in Figs. 4a, 4b, 4c, 
Plate IX. Finally, each of these forms is susceptible of 
manifold alteration. Hence the fourth gift combines 
universality, boundlessness, and freedom, with restriction 
and limitation. In this play, indeed, law and coherence 
emerge even from the apparently capricious and acci- 



190 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

dental, for, by following the path of development indi- 
cated, each particular form appears as a member of a 
relatively higher and more inclusive unity, until finally 
all forms are related to the germinal form. Fig. A, Plate 
IX. In the visible connection of the pure antitheses lies 
the formative and instructive influence of this gift for the 
child. The child early anticipates, perceives, and recog- 
nizes how intimately the finite and infinite, necessity and 
freedom, law, and free will are connected with one an- 
other ; how inner limitations and law lie at the founda- 
tion even of accident, if we are only in condition to 
perceive and solve all the limitations and connecting 
links and combinations given at the same time in and 
with it. 

The illustration of this universal law by means of per- 
ceptible phenomena is, in our judgment, as important for 
the heart and soul culture of the child as the absorption 
of light and color through the day, and the inhalation of 
air from the atmosphere. 

How shall these representations of forms of beauty be 
carried on with the children ? Precisely as has been al- 
ready explained in the original delineation of these plays : 
in the same way as mothers play with their children, of 
their own accord, and guided by motherly love and 
motherly feeling. Mothers observe some kind of a thing 
which they believe will captivate the child's mind, be it 
only for an instant, and they try forthwith to retain it for 
the child's observation. Some particular object which has 
a symmetric form has been represented by the mother or 
the child, or by both together. Through its symmetry it 
captivates for an instant the child's attention. Let us 
assume it to be any one of the forms. Figs, la, 2a, or 3a, 
Plate IX. The watchful mother perceives the fascination. 



THE FOUETH PLAY OF THE CHILD. 191 

and seeks to heighten and retain it through words spoken 
or sung — e. g. : 

This is a very pretty play, 

All our blocks in a wreath to lay. 

If, on another occasion, the accidentally originated 
form should be one of those represented in Figs, lb, 2b, 
or 3b, the mother might throw it into clearer relief by 
singing or saying : 

Now all our blocks toward the middle go, 
And clearly a beautiful star they show. 

Again, if forms arise like those represented in Figs. 
4a, 4b, 4c, the child's attention might be called to them 
by the words : 

When the stars and circles meet. 
Then we look like flowers sweet. 

Occasionally forms are produced which, though sym- 
metrical, are not alike on all their sides. Thus the reader 
will remember that with the third gift were produced 
forms whose opposite sides were equal but whose adjacent 
sides were unequal. Such figures as these may be inter- 
preted by words calling attention to the positions of the 
sides and the number of blocks : 

Place three blocks on the left, 
Place three blocks on the right, 
With one above and one below, the left and right unite. 

Any mother or kindergartner who sympathizes with 
the child's habits of thought may with a little experience 
learn to rhyme all his activities and their results. Through 
her jingles she will make clear to the little one what he 
has done, and thus his accidental productions will become 
a point of departure for his self-development. Word and 



192 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

form are opposite, and yet related. Hence the word 
should always accompany the form as its shadow. In a 
certain sense, giving a form a name really creates the 
form itself. Through the name, moreover, the form is 
retained in memory and defined to thought. 

In addition to wreath, star, and flower forms, the blocks 
of the fourth gift may be used to produce wheel forms. 
These wheel forms are transitional, and mediate the forms 
of beauty and the forms of life. This transitional or 
mediatorial character should be indicated to the child, 
and through this and similar experiences he should be 
given a presentiment of the truth that in all the phenom- 
ena of life there is a connection of antitheses or media- 
tion of opposites. An early foreboding of this truth is, 
in our judgment, of the highest importance to the true 
development of each human being, for thereby all the 
phenomena of life are connected into a living and life- 
giving whole, and nothing remains isolated and insig- 
nificant. 

The fourth gift has now been considered in sufificient 
detail, and its practical use indicated in the three essential 
directions [forms of life, knowledge, beauty]. Two points, 
however, need further consideration : First, the play itself 
and the adult playmate ; second, the relationship and con- 
nection of the different gifts. 

The Play a^-d the Adult Playmate. 

How rich is the material afforded by this fourth gift 
for spiritual and intellectual activity, for correct appre- 
hension of the life of childhood, and for the develop- 
ment of that life, has been so clearly indicated in the 
preceding pages that it need not further be dwelt upon. 
Nothing of abiding importance for the human being is 



THE FOURTH PLAY OF THE CHILD. I93 

untouched by it. It throws light upon life and Nature, 
touches the springs of feeling and thought, incites action 
and achievement. It illustrates the laws and conditions of 
human development, reveals its inner spirit, illuminates its 
outer manifestations, and throws into relief its successive 
stages. 

Thus it leads to the attainment of the peace of life 
and of the joy of life. It elevates the family into the 
guardianship of peace and the promotion of happiness, for 
through it means are given by which all that has living 
worth may be drawn within the circle of family activi- 
ties. Hence to the thoughtful adult this little play m^y 
become a mirror which reflects the essential law of life ; 
a point of departure and comparison, through which the 
phenomena of life may be interpreted ; a bridge, which 
shall connect the inner being of the child with external 
phenomena, and conversely shall interpret external phe- 
nomena to the heart and imagination of the child. Thus 
our fourth gift becomes in the hands of a reflective per- 
son a wonderful means of education; for through sen- 
sible facts and experiences runs the path to heart and 
mind, to will and deed. 

The Relation?" akd Coiq"NECTioK of the Difeerent 

Gifts. 
It was pointed out, in the commentary on the second 
gift, that the introduction of this gift to the child should 
not supersede the use of its predecessor, but that, on the 
contrary, the two gifts should be played with alternately, 
the one thus assisting to produce a clearer apprehension 
and more varied use of the other. The same statement 
was made in the commentary on the third gift, and its 
relationship to the second gift in particular was clearly 
.i 



194 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

shown. It must, however, be repeated again, for the 
third and fourth gifts complement each other in a strik- 
ing manner, and their alternate use gives new life and 
freshness to each, and is most strengthening and develop- 
ing to the spirit of the child. Hence, if several children of 
about the same age (from two to four years old) are play- 
ing, some with the third and some with the fourth gift, 
they may occasionally exchange boxes with each other. 
Each child should pass his box in good condition to his 
neighbor. No one should be allowed to push the contents 
of his box in a disorderly confusion to the child with whom 
he exchanges gifts. This requirement is essential both 
to the retention of the child's respect for the plaything 
and to the awakening and nourishing of his own sense 
of order. A similar requirement must be insisted upon 
when the child, playing alone, wishes to change from one 
gift to the other. He must combine his component cubes 
into a large cube, place the box over this, then close and 
put away the box, before he is allowed to receive the new 
gift. Such treatment of each gift as a separate and dis- 
tinct whole is especially important, because thereby the 
common and unifying elements of the different gifts are 
accentuated. In like manner, when several children are 
playing at the same time, with the same gift of the series, 
it is important that each eight blocks or bricks should 
have their own box. They should be taken out of this 
box at the beginning of the play and put back into it at 
the conclusion. They should never be kept in or taken 
from a common box or receptacle. Unimportant as these 
little rules may appear, they are essential to the clear and 
definite development of the child, to his orderly appre- 
hension of external objects, and to the logical unfolding 
of his own concepts and judgments. 



THE FOURTH PLAY OF THE CHILD. 195 

In a word, the play box should always be treated as a 
loved, esteemed, and worthy companion. These three re- 
quirements hang together. 

In a word, the box of building blocks should be re- 
garded by the child as a worthy, an appreciated, and a 
loved comrade. The three feelings are intimately con- 
nected. 

When the child has learned to use each of the gifts 
separately, and has seized their essential and distinctive 
characteristics, he may be allowed to use them together. 
This joint use of his playthings is particularly important 
in the case of the third and fourth gifts. 

Since, however, the combination of the third and 
fourth gifts creates an expansion of the child's play, and 
requires from him increased power of perception and 
increased creative ability, the two boxes should not be 
used together until their separate possibilities have been 
thoroughly mastered. 



XII. 

SECOl^D REVIEW OF PLAYS. — A FRAGMENT. 

Petitions for a more thorough elaboration of my play 
and occupation material have reached me from many 
quarters. I am also requested to state in summary their 
inner and outer connection. As one essential class of 
these gifts has now been developed in several series, which 
have been in use among children long enough for me to 
observe their fruits, I gladly comply with the wishes of 
those who have shown sympathy with my efforts. I shall 
endeavor to connect what I have to say with the summary 
previously presented. Since, however, the careful reader 
is by this time in possession of many additional experi- 
ences and insights, I shall enter more deeply into my 
subject, and try to present it from more varied points of 
view. 

Let us take nature as our guide-post and example. 
Let us endeavor to find the essential nature of material 
objects and the conditions under which this nature un- 
folds. In a word, let us study the process of natural de- 
velopment ; for the process of development exhibits the 
essence of the developing object, precisely as the actions 
of a man exhibit the inner disposition which is their 
moving spring. 

In nature each object develops after its own kind. 



SECOND REVIEW OP PLAYS.— A FRAGMENT. 197 

Seeking for the ground of this phenomenon, we come to 
the following threefold result : 

1. Each object develops in accordance with the high- 
est and simplest laws of life ; hence, in unity and har- 
mony with these laws and their aboriginal cause. Each 
living object, therefore, reveals these laws in their partic- 
ular manifestation and in their totality. 

2. Each particular object develops in accord with its 
own individual nature, and in conformity with the specific 
laws of that nature. 

3. Each particular object in nature develops under 
the collective influence of all other objects. If any ob- 
ject appears to be withdrawn from this collective influ- 
ence, such withdrawal is mediate, not immediate — as, e. g., 
when the object is shielded by a roof from the hot sun. 
This withdrawal itself, moreover, is grounded in the 
nature of the influence from which the given object is 
protected — hence may be said to be a phase of this influ- 
ence itself. 

If, now, we strive to grasp in a common unity this 
threefold process of development, we find an element 
which, corresponding to ascending stages of development 
is called force, tendency, life, impulse, energy, and which 
in each particular object manifests itself in the following 
forms : 

1. As a germinating and developing power (working 
from within outward). 

2. As a receptive power [from without inward]. 

3. As an assimilative and formative energy [synthesis 
of the preceding powers]. 

Thus the pivot upon which all turns is recognition of 
life or activity, which is in union with the source of all 
life — i. e., God. The condition of all manifestation of 



198 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

completeness in nature is the retention of this life-unity 
{Lehens-einheit). We must see clearly the conditions of 
complete development in nature, and then employ them 
in human life. Thus only can we help men to attain, 
upon the plane of human development — which means 
spiritual development — a degree of perfection correspond- 
ing to that which the forms and types of nature show 
upon the plane of physical development. This dwelling 
in life-unity is necessary even for the wisest of the wise. 

Man, however — the all-surveying man — must rise 
through ascending degrees of consciousness to perfect in- 
sight into the ground, conditions, and goal of his life. 

We observe in nature that each successive stage of 
development does not exclude its predecessor, but en- 
nobles, transforms, and develops it. Man, likewise, must 
unfold and develop in unity with nature, and thus in un- 
disturbed harmony with the life of the whole, with the 
unity of this total life, and with its source. He must also 
attend carefully to the manifestations of his own inner 
life, and must nurture this inner life. He must recognize 
that the universal and divine laws of life and existence 
work also in him and manifest themselves through him. 
Finally, through free choice and free self -activity he must 
reproduce — first in feeling and later with clear conscious- 
ness — the divine and unifying life. 

Therefore we must endeavor to make our children per- 
ceive in nature the divine unity of life. We must also 
aid them to represent this unity in their own lives. Thus 
shall nature and life interpret each other. 

Force and life manifest themselves as formative and 
constructive energies. We know this to be true of light, 
heat, and other forces. Even more emphatically true is 
it that life manifests itself and its accord with law in its 



SECOND REVIEW OF PLAYS.— A FRAGMENT. 199 

forms. Specific life shows itself in specific structures, 
conditioned by form and size. Form, again, manifests its 
nature in the systematic arrangement or articulation of 
its component parts ; size shows itself in its divisions. 
Both size and form have multiplicity and divisibility; 
hence both imply and depend upon number. 

In order, therefore, to aid the child from the very dawn 
of consciousness, and through the first exertions of activ- 
ity, to rightly apprehend his environment, we offered him 
as his first plaything the ball ; for the ball meets all the 
conditions above enumerated, and hence may be consid- 
ered as a representative or type of all things severally and 
collectively. It is in a certain sense, therefore, a symbol 
of the universal life. 

In the plays with the ball the universal qualities of 
material objects are thrown into relief. Hence through 
these plays the child learns to recognize the qualities com- 
mon to all things in his environment — i. e., material, 
weight, force, cohesion, elasticity, etc. In the structure 
of the ball he recognizes form, size, and number in undi- 
vided unity — a three in one. Thus the ball becomes a 
key to the child's environment, and a guide to and inter- 
preter of nature both as regards her outer manifestations 
and her inner life. The illustrations given in this book 
show how both these results may be attained. In the 
hands of thoughtful mothers and kindergartners the ball 
becomes a help to the child in grasping the objects which 
he sees around him, in their unity and indivisibility, and 
it also helps him to make a right use of them. The means 
to this twofold end are the differing and contrasting 
qualities which the ball illustrates. The nature and rela- 
tionship of these contrasts are accentuated through the 
development of the sphere and cube from the ball. 



200 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

From this point we connect our second review of the 
gifts with the review already given. 

In order that the child may get clear conceptions of 
the sphere and cube they should be given him sometimes 
separately and sometimes together. To give them to- 
gether is especially important, because, as has been so 
often stated, they help the child to seize the contrasts in 
the objects of his environment and to find their recon- 
ciliation ; for the sphere is predominantly the image and 
type of outwardly manifested and yet really veiled inter- 
nality ; the cube, on the contrary, is predominantly the 
image and type of an internality which, though only par- 
tially manifest, is actual and unveiled in this partiality. 
Thus the two forms are complementary. The plays with 
the ball lead the child through the universal qualities 
which the ball illustrates to a general (though vague?) 
knowledge of particular bodies of nature and of life. 
The plays with the sphere and cube, and particularly 
those plays which incite to comparison of these contrast- 
ing forms, lead to more specific knowledge of these several 
subjects. 



XIII. 

THE FIETH GIFT. THE CUBE DIVIDED EQUALLY TWICE 
IN EACH DIMEKSIOK AND WITH OBLIQUELY DIVIDED 
COMPONENT CUBES. EVOLUTION OF THIS GIFT FEOM 
THE PRECEDING GIFTS, AND FROM THE NATURE OF 
THE CHILD AND HIS ENVIRONMENT. 

(See Plates X-XIH.) 

In accordance with a simple, necessary, and self-con- 
ditioned law of life, the development of the child proceeds 
from a definite, invisible, unchangeable, implicit unity, 
which is in harmony with a corresponding unity in the 
cosmos, toward a goal or consummation characterized by 
the conscious realization of unity in particularity and in 
manifoldness. 

The means of adumbrating to the child his own nature 
and life, and the nature and life of the cosmos, are his 
plays and playthings. 

Proceeding in this manner and with allegiance to the 
demands of his nature, we have directed the activity of 
the child by presenting him with gifts moving from a 
necessary unit and developing according to inner and im- 
mutable laws. These gifts have moved from the simple, 
uniform, soft, elastic ball to the sphere, which, though 
equally simple, and conditioned by an apprehensible 
though invisible center, is relatively to the ball fixed and 
inflexible, yet even more easily movable. From the soft, 



202 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

elastic, quiescent ball, and the hard, inelastic, easily mov- 
able sphere, we advanced to the undivided cube, an object 
which to the uniformity of the sphere opposes the mani- 
foldness of its faces, corners, and edges, and in contrast to 
the movableness of the former embodies the tendency to 
repose. From the undivided cube, whose /orm was con- 
ditioned by contrast to the sphere, we proceeded to the 
cube divided once in each dimension, and hence consist- 
ing of eight comjDonent cubes ; and from this, in accord- 
ance with requirements already fully explained, to the 
fourth gift, a cube divided by one vertical and two hori- 
zontal cuts into eight bricks [rectangular parallelepipeds]. 

Casting a scrutinizing glance upon this series of toys 
we discover the following law of progress : 

The Ball. — A whole complete in itself ; a body round 
yet easily alterable. [Froebel means that the soft ball is 
easily changed in shape by pressure.] 

The Sphere. — A fixed, inflexible, unmodifiable round 
body, in which straight lines [axes] having different direc- 
tions may be conceived although they are not visible and 
are interchangeable. 

The Ciibe. — The invisible and interchangeable straight 
lines conceived as the axes of the sphere have in the cube 
become outwardly visible and fixed. They retain, however, 
equality of length. 

The Cube divided once in every dimension (third gift). 
— In this gift the straight lines and surfaces, which are 
manifest in the undivided cube as faces and edges, are 
revealed in their inward nature. Moreover, what the un- 
divided cube showed once, is here repeated in each com- 
ponent cube. Finally, in building with this gift the child 
has now and then experiences of straight lines of different 
lengths. 



\ 

\ 



THE FIFTH GIFT. 203 

Building Bricks (fourth gift). — In this gift the right 
lines of unequal length, now and then manifest in the 
combinations of the third gift, become a fixture. 

This review shows clearly that each successive gift in 
the series is not only implicit in but also demanded by 
its predecessor. Hence the fifth gift, to which we now 
advance, must be indicated in and demanded by the gifts 
already considered. We need, therefore, only to consider 
their process of development in order to discover what 
must be the character of their next successor. 

The original gift in our cubical series was a cube 
divided once in each dimension. The natural progress is 
from one to two, hence our new gift must be divided 
twice in each dimension. Each one of its faces will 
therefore show a division into three equal parts, and the 
whole cube will be divided into twenty-seven component 
cubes. This division by threes yields an increase in the 
number of parts, but not a developing extension in the 
nature of the gift itself. A new feature must therefore be 
added to this gift, and it must be one which has been met 
with occasionally in the combinations made with the pre- 
ceding gifts. This new feature is the diagonal. 

The diagonal is demanded. Vertical and horizontal 
lines are both straight lines. They are also in their direc- 
tions contrasting lines. Contrasts in accordance with the 
universal law of development imply mediation. The di- 
agonal mediates the contrasting right lines, and hence is 
demanded by them. 

The diagonal is also suggested in the preceding gifts, 
germinates therefore in them and sprouts from them. 
Whenever, either in forms of life or forms of beauty, sur- 
faces and edges meet, the oblique is transiently shown. 

The demand of the new gift, therefore, is that the 



204 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

oblique line hitherto only transiently indicated shall be- 
come an abiding feature of its material. The oblique line, 
moreover, in accordance with previous indications, must 
be the diagonal of a square. Now, how shall this de- 
manded diagonal be produced ? Simply by cutting the 
cube through opposite edges, thus dividing it into two 
parts, each of which is a rectangular column whose ends 
are equal triangles [triangular prisms]. 

This division of the cube is demanded both by internal 
and external considerations. The question next arises, 
Shall the cube be divided diagonally once, thus yielding 
only halves, or shall it be twice divided and yield quarters ? 
Manifestly it must be divided in both ways. Finally, we 
ask ourselves. How many of the component cubes shall 
be thus divided? As the fundamental number in this 
gift is three, it would seem right that three component 
cubes should be divided into halves and three into quar- 
ters. Through this division in one third of the cube, 
three of the component cubes remain whole and undi- 
vided, three are divided into halves, and three into quar- 
ters. Hence the fifth gift is composed of twenty-one un- 
divided component cubes, three cubes divided diagonally 
into halves, and three divided diagonally into quarters ; 
the whole, therefore, is made up of three times three times 
three, or twenty-seven small cubes. 

So much in explanation of the essential nature of the 
fifth gift, its outer form, its composition, and the law of 
its evolution. Let us now advance to 

Its Use. 

Before beginning his play with this gift the child must 
apprehend it as a symmetrical whole, complete in itself. 
The component cubes should be so packed in their box as 



THE FIFTH GIFT. 205 

to bring the divided cubes undermost ; it is also essential 
that cubes similarly divided should be placed in a row. 
In conformity with this demand the bottom of the box 
must be occupied by one row of undivided cubes, one row 
of halved cubes, and one row of quartered cubes. The 
eighteen remaining undivided cubes fill the rest of the 
box. 

If the cubes be thus arranged in the box and covered 
with the lid, it is only necessary to place the box on the 
table with the cover downward, then to draw out the 
cover and raise the box with a steady hand. When the 
box is withdrawn the whole cube, with its parts well ar- 
ranged, stands before the child. 

This procedure is by no means intended merely to 
make the withdrawal of the box easy for the child, but, 
on the contrary, brings to him much inner profit. It is 
well for him to receive his playthings in an orderly man- 
ner — not to have them tossed to him as fodder is tossed 
to animals. It is good for the child to begin his play with 
the perception of a whole, a simple self-contained unit, 
and from this unity to develop his representations. Fi- 
nally, it is essential that the playing child should receive 
his material so arranged that its various elements are dis- 
cernible, and that by seeing them his mind may uncon- 
sciously form plans for using them. Eeceiving his mate- 
rial thus arranged, the child will use it with ever-recurrent 
and increasing satisfaction, and his play will produce far 
more abiding results than the play of one whose material 
lies before him like a heap of cobble-stones. 

Since the right use of all objects, whether physical or 
spiritual, implies primarily division and recombination, 
or analysis and synthesis, according to definite aims, let 
the first use of the fifth gift be 



206 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

The Representation of Forms of Knowledge. 

The simplest of these forms of knowledge are obtained 
by division. The simplest form of division is that which 
separates the whole cube into equal parts of the least 
number, and having the greatest similarity in form to the 
whole cube. Therefore the first division of the fifth gift 
is into three equal square prisms. 

It will be remembered that the third gift was divided 
in three different ways, but that the parts thus divided 
differed only in position. In two of these divisions the 
plane of division was vertical ; in one it was horizontal. 
The two vertical planes differed by extending in one case 
from right to left and in the other from front to back. 
In the fifth gift this threefold division is repeated, and is 
now accompanied by variation in the arrangement of the 
component cubes. In other words, when the fifth gift is 
divided horizontally all the divided component cubes will 
be found in one of its thirds. When it is divided verti- 
cally from right to left, the halved cubes will be found in 
one of its thirds and the quartered cubes in another. 
When it is divided from front to back, one of the halved 
cubes and one of the quartered cubes will be found in each 
third. 

Perceptions and recognitions which are with difficulty 
gained from icords are easily gained from facts and deeds. 
Through actual experience the child gains in a trice a 
total concept, whereas the same concept expressed in 
words would be only grasped in a partial manner. The 
rare merit, the vivifying influence of tliis play material is 
that, through the representations it makes possible, con- 
cepts are recognized at once in their wholeness and unity, 
whereas such an idea of a whole can only very gradually 



THE FIFTH GIFT. 207 

be gained from its verbal expression. It must, however, 
be added that later, through words, the concept can be 
brought into higher and clearer consciousness. Ehythmic 
or harmoniously membered speech especially tends to pro- 
duce this result. Hence all perceptions should be con- 
nected with words, that thereby they may be more clearly 
defined in thought. 

Therefore the division and recombination of our cubes 
may be accompanied by the words — 

One whole, three thirds ; 
Three thirds, one whole. 

If, in addition to connecting the act with its interpret- 
ing word, we connect with the words the rhythmic form, 
then to sense-perception and intellectual apprehension we 
shall give the apprehension of the heart, or, in other 
words, we shall influence the whole nature of the child as 
a triune being : 

15 5 3 11 

One whole now, three thirds see ; 

1 5 5 3 11 

Three thirds now, one whole see. 

This very simple division of the cube gives occasion 
for a great variety of representations ; the three table- 
shaped parts produced by the horizontal division can be 
joined so as to form a rectangular prism, whose greatest 
length may be either vertical or horizontal (Plate X, Fig. 
1). In either case the rectangular prism may be again 
divided into three beam-shaped parts [square prisms] — 
i. e., in beam-shaped parts having a horizontal position 
(Plate X, Fig. 2), and into beam-shaped parts having a ver- 
tical position. To the child these differences of position 
make the beams seem as different as an oblong whose 
greater length is horizontal seems to him different from 



208 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

an oblong whose greater length is vertical. Here, again, 
division and recombination are accompanied bj word, 
accent, and song : 

One table — three beams ; 
Three beams — one table. 

Again, we may consider the rectangular prism formed 
by uniting the three square prisms (Plate X, Fig. X) as 
one long table, and, as we alternately divide and recon- 
struct it, say — 

Long table will three small ones make ; 
To form long table three small ones take. 

Or, more briefly — 

Long rectangle, three squares see ; 

From three squares, rectangle make for me. 

In this case direct attention to upper face of prisms. 

Or— 

One oblong, three squares ; 
Three squares, one oblong. 

In this case the oblongs in different positions are recog- 
nized as having the same form. 

The same law must be observed here as in all other 
plays — the law which permits the child entire freedom in 
developing from a given point of departure. Thus pro- 
ceeding from the rectangular prism the child may, ac- 
cording to his own impulse, develop the rhomboidal prism 
(Plate X, Fig. 4) to the trapezoidal prism (Plate X, Fig. 5). 
These forms lead on to the hexagonal and pentagonal 
prisms (Plate XI). 

[Froebel omits any consideration of what the child 
might do if his impulse did not move him to make these 
forms.] 

In all cases, however, it is an incitement to thought 



THE FIFTH GIFT. 209 

and feeling if simple words and melodies are used to de- 
fine the child's doings. Through such interpretation the 
act recoils with more developing power — e. g. : 

My cube I can handle 
With ease, and you'll see 
Six corners, where four 
Or where five used to be. 



Or— 



How easy 'tis my cube to take 
And from one form another make ! 



It is both edifying and enjoyable for the child to dis- 
cover and repeatedly represent how one form proceeds 
from another by lawful evolution, as has just been illus- 
trated in the series moving from the rectangular prism 
or parallelepiped to the hexagonal prism. It is also im- 
portant for the child to define each form in words — e. g. : 

A rectangle has four right angles, etc. ; 

A rhomboid has two sharp and two blunt angles. 

Definitions of this kind must be given without any 
proof, and simply as verbal expressions of perceptible 
facts. They should be uttered rhythmically, and should 
be interpreted by pointing with the fingers to the angles 
indicated. Thus the words, " Two sharp angles, two blunt 
angles," should be repeated alternately, and the angles 
touched as they are named. 

Even these definitions may be made rhythmic : 

Sean well these forms, always four angles you will find, 
Yet ever different are their sides inclined. 

So when the angles are similar but have different posi- 
tions, the following words may be said : 

Though these angles alike appear, 
In position they differ here. 



210 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

[That is, the two equal angles either on different sides 
(rhomboid) or on the same side (trapezoid).] 

In further explanation may be added the following 

words : 

The two that are blunt are the larger angles ; 
The two that are sharp are the smaller angles. 

And further [in case of such trapezoids as are illustrated 
in Plate X, Fig. 5] : 

Blunt angles on the shorter sides we see ; 
Sharp angles on the longer sides must be. 

In all that is done, however, the aim must be to follow 
simply, quietly, and thoughtfully the requirements of the 
child's inner nature — an aim which these gifts make it 
easy to realize. The child's representations must be lifted 
into the clearness and precision for which he longs, and 
finally his productions must be clearly defined in words. 

From this digression, to which we have allowed our- 
selves to be led as in play by the child, we return to the 
division of the cubes. 

As the division of the cube into thirds was made in 
three different ways, so the thirds may be divided in 
three different ways into ninths, and these into twenty- 
sevenths. 

Again, the component cubes may be united so as to 
form a rhomboidal, a pentagonal, or a hexagonal prism, and 
divided in several different ways into two, three, four, six, 
and more equal parts ; the shapes of these parts will be 
four, five, six, and eight sided prisms. They are always, 
however, right prisms — i. e., prisms whose lateral faces 
form right angles with bases. The use of the cube makes 
these facts so apparent, that they need only be indicated 
for each person to discover them for himself and to lead 
children to discover them. 



THE FIFTH GIFT. 211 

The children may be incited to ejffort and discoyery 
by rhymed question and suggestion : 

Who can now the large cube change, 
And one six-sided form arrange ? 

Or— 

And two six-sided forms arrange. 

The cube can change, if each child only tries, 

To four straight rows alike in form and size. 

See ! now I can divide all these 

Into five-sided forms with ease. 

Whoever can handle the cube well can change 

These forms, and four six-sided forms can arrange. 

The four six-sided forms you now may take. 

And of them two eight-sided figures make. 

Look at me now, and lastly you shall learn 

How two eight-sided forms to one may turn. 

Four equal slanting lines we here can view"; 

The other sides are equal two and two. 

This cube is very changeable ; you may turn it with much ease 

To forms whose bases have five sides, and more yet, if you please. 

Or— 

The cube its parts unites in different ways, 
And with each change a different form displays. 

The transformation of one form into another thrown 
into relief by these lines is highly important in its devel- 
oping influence. The forms advance from the simple to 
the complex and return again to the simple, thus com- 
pleting a cycle of development. 

[Students of Froebel will recognize that he is trying 
to illustrate the process of evolution, whose natural sym- 
bol he finds in the life of the tree.] 

In every case separation and division must be followed 
by recombination. In this way there result from the cube, 



212 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

by varied groupings of its constituent parts, prisms, whose 
bases have 4, 6, or 8 sides. [Froebel here describes these 
prisms as " four- times-one-sided, two-times-two-and-one- 
sided, two-and-three-times-one-sided, one- time-three-sided, 
once two-sided, and once one-sided, four times two-sided."] 
(See Plate XI, Figs. 1-8.) These bodies after being built 
up may be easily resolved into their different constituent 
prisms. The manner of doing this will be perceived at a 
glance. 

A very delightful exercise is to discover how many 
Bquare prisms may be made of the twenty-seven cubes. 
Such square prisms may be, first, all of equal size ; second, 
all of different sizes ; third, part of equal and part of un- 
equal sizes. Analogous exercises may be carried out with 
the pentagonal and hexagonal solids. Here as everywhere 
the point of prime importance for its formative influence 
is the development of one form from another. 

Let us illustrate this kind of exercise by the example 
of the square prism. 

First. Equal Square Prisms. 
Of these there are three, each composed of nine cubes. 
Second. Unequal Square Prisms. 

TWO SQUARE PRISMS. 

1 of 25 and 1 of 2 cubes. 
1 of 18 and 1 of 9 cubes. 

THREE SQUARE PRISMS. 

1 of 16, 1 of 9, 1 of 2 cubes. 

FOUR SQUARE PRISMS. 

1 of IG, 1 of 8, 1 of 2, 1 of 1 cube. 

FIVE SQUARE PRISMS. 

1 of IG, 1 of 4J, 1 of 4, 1 of 2, 1 of i cube. 



THE FIFTH GIFT. 213 

Third. Equal and Unequal Square Prisms, 

THEEE SQUABE PRISMS. 

1 of 25 cubes, 2 of 1 cube each. 

FOUR SQUAEE PRISMS. 

2 of 9 cubes each, 2 of 4^ cubes each. 
2 of 9, 1 of 8 cubes, 1 of 1 cube. 
1 of 16, 2 of 4^ cubes, 1 of 2 cubes. 

FIVE SQUARE PRISMS. 

1 of 16, 2 of 4^ cubes each, 2 of 1 cube each. 

1 of 16, 1 of 8, 1 of 2 cubes, 2 of ^ cube each. 

2 of 9, 1 of 4|, 1 of 4 cubes, 1 of ^ cube. 

SIX SQUARE PRISMS. 

2 of 9, 1 of 4:^, 2 of 2 cubes each, 1 of ^ cube. 

SEVEN SQUARE PRISMS. 

1 of 9, 1 of 8, 1 of 4, 2 of 2 cubes each, 2 of 1 cube each. 

2 of 4i, 4 of 4, 1 of 2 cubes. 

EIGHT SQUARE PRISMS. 

1 of 9, 1 of 8, 1 of 4, 1 of 2 cubes, 4 of 1 cube each. 
1 of 4J, 5 of 4, 1 of 2 cubes, 1 of i cube. 
6 of 4, 1 of 2 cubes, 1 of 1 cube. 

NINE SQUARE PRISMS. 

1 of 9, 1 of 8, 1 of 4, 1 of 2 cubes, 3 of 1 cube, 2 of i cube. 

TEN SQUARE PRISMS. 

5 of 4, 3 of 2 cubes, 2 of |^ cube. 

ELEVEN SQUARE PRISMS. 

4 of 4, 4 of 2 cubes each, 3 of 1 cube each. 

TWELVE SQUARE PRISMS. 

5 of 4 cubes each, 7 of 1 cube each, etc. 

I have illustrated in perhaps exhaustive detail the 
square prisms which may be made at the same time 
from the component cubes of the fifth gift. For this 



214 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

procedure I have had two reasons : first, to give a sample 
of the great number of instructive forms which this gift 
makes possible ; second, to show what beautiful combina- 
tions proceed from these forms. 

Of these combinations I will mention two : 

I. Place two or more square prisms one above the 
other, taking care that the superimposed prism is just 
half the size of the one upon which it rests : e. g., upon 
a square prism formed of eighteen component cubes place 
one of nine cubes ; upon a square prism of sixteen com- 
ponent cubes place one of eight, upon this one of four, 
then in order one of two cubes, one of one cube, and one 
of one half cube. 

If, now, a series of these diminishing square prisms or 
tablets be laid one upon another, in such a way that the 
angles of one tablet alw^ays touch the sides of its prede- 
cessor, the structure resulting will be both pretty and in- 
structive. 

Again, if while thus arranging the tablets each tablet 
be defined relatively to its predecessor as its opposite (be- 
cause of the contrast in position), the fact will impress 
itself upon the mind that each opposite tablet is precisely 
half the size of the preceding or principal tablet to which 
it refers. Analogous observations may of course be made 
in many ways, and in a later stage of development receive 
accurate expression in geometry. As illustrated with our 
gift it is a mere experience reached through play, and re- 
lates to simple perception of a composite whole, together 
wdth the agreeable impression of this whole upon the eye, 
and through the eye upon the feeling and disposition. 

The following words, which must be connected with 
contrasting observations (i. e., observation of the form 
from below upward, and from above downward), will 



THE FIFTH GIFT. 215 

inake the relative sizes of the different tablets clear to the 
child : 

Upward, always half as large ; 
Downward, always twice as large. 

Or, with each single tablet — 
I'm twice as large as that above me, 
And half as large as that below ; 
But though twofold I appear, 
One you'll always find me here. 

The second combination alluded to, and which is not 
less interesting than the one already considered, is as fol- 
lows : Unite two equal square prisms by their edges (or 
corners) so that their upper surfaces form a right angle, 
and connect these prisms by a third square prism extend- 
ing from the free edge of one to the free edge of the other. 
This third square prism will contain as many cubes as 
both the two forms originally united — e. g. : 

Unite two cubes by their edges to form a right angle ; 
the connecting square prism will contain four cubes. 

Unite square prisms of four cubes each ; the connect- 
ing square prism will contain eight cubes. 

Unite square prisms of four cubes and a half each ; the 
connecting square prism will contain nine cubes. 

Unite square prisms of eight cubes each ; the connect- 
ing square prism will contain sixteen cubes. 

Unite square prisms of nine cubes each ; the connect- 
ing square prism will contain eighteen cubes, etc. 

If desired, this process may be described in rhyme : 

Let two equal square prisms in a right angle meet. 

The prism formed is twice as large when it is quite complete. 

If one desires that the explanatory word shall accom- 
pany each stage of the representation (by which means 



216 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

word, act, and object become reciprocally explanatory and 
vitalizing), the following lines may be used : 

If you can by an edge unite 

Two equal squares * with an angle right, 

And by a third square can combine 

Two other edges of these squares in line, 

This last third square will, as you plainly see, 

As large as both the others prove to be. 

For tbe further development of this group of forms 
we must refer to the complete directions for the use of 
this gift.f 

It need here only be added that the discovery and 
combination of geometric forms other than square prisms 
is also full of interest, and that the mathematical re- 
lationships thrown into relief in such combinations are 
most interesting and instructive. The combinations of 
hexagonal prisms may be mentioned as peculiarly attract- 
ive. 

Up to this point the child has been incited to dis- 
cover figures of like form but of different content. He 
may now be led to discover figures having an equal cubic 
content but dissimilar in form — e. g. : 

First Series. 

1. A square prism of four cubes. 

2. A prism with trapezoidal base, of four cubes. 

3. A prism (whose bases are isosceles triangles) of 
four cubes. 

[It will be understood that half cubes are used in 
making the last two forms.] 

* I. e., square surfaces united so as to form a right angle, 
f These directions have never appeared. 



THE FIFTH GIFT. 217 

Second Series. 

4. A square prism two cubes long, one cube wide. 

5. A rhomboidal prism of similar length and width. 

6. A prism whose bases are isosceles triangles, made 
of one whole and two half cubes, each of its legs or lateral 
sides being of the length of two cubes, and one of these 
sides serving as its base. 

Third Series, 

7. One small cube. 

8. One square tablet of lour cubes. 

9. One right column whose bases are one inch square 
and whose height is four inches. 

A single observation brings to light the following 
facts : 

1. Two parallel-sided quadrangles having like bases 
are equal, if of the same height. 

Whatever form the two sides show, 
Slanting or straight, or high or low, 
If base and height alike you see, 
The contents too will equal be. 

2. Any parallel-sided quadrangular form and a prism 
whose bases are isosceles triangles are of equal size when 
with the same altitude the base of the latter [i. e., of the 
triangle] is twice as large as the base of the former [i. e., 
of the quadrangle]. 

Four corners you can bring to view. 
While only three / show to you ; 
And see now — I am just as tall 
As you ; and yet that is not all. 
For I can cover twice the ground : 
Our contents equal thus are found. 

The figures of the second series when compared with 
one another throw into relief the first of the above-men- 
17 



218 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

tioned facts. Again, the quadrangular figures of the 
second series when compared with the quadrangular fig- 
ures of the first series show that one parallelogram has 
half the contents of another when with equal base it has 
half the altitude. The rhyme for this is easily discov- 
ered. 

The equality of the triangle of this series with its 
parallelograms may be thus expressed : 

Four corners you can bring to view, 
While only three I show to you. 
Twice as tall I am as you, 
Just as long, and it is true 
That, as we cover equal ground, 
Our contents equal must be found. 

The triangle of the second series compared with that 
of the first series shows that one triangle is half the size 
of another when with half the base it has an equal alti- 
tude. 

In the third series the bases of the two square prisms 
show : 

1. Proceeding from the smaller to the larger : 
When the base and altitude of one square prism are 

equal to one half the base and altitude of another, its 
cubic contents are only one fourth as great. 

2. Proceeding from the larger to the smaller : 
When the base and altitude of one square prism are 

twice as great as the base and altitude of another, the 
cubic contents of the former are four times as great as 
those of the latter. 

The mathematical truths shown in this third series 
were also presented to perception in the third gift, but 
repeated experiences are of great profit to the child. 

The transition from these forms of knowledge to 



THE^ FIFTH GIFT. 219 

forms of beauty and forms of life is a very simple one. 
It will, however, not be readily discoverable by children, 
who will, on the contrary, begin at once with forms of life. 

FoKMS OF Life. 

The one permanent and indispensable condition in the 
production of these forms of life is that in each total 
product all the material of the gift shall be used. Any 
piece that is left over must be somehow placed in relation 
to the whole, and appear as an essential member of the 
collective representation. Closely following the inclina- 
tions of the child, we too will now begin with the forms 
of life ; * and this so much the more, because the mani- 
festations of the child show that through life and deed he 
is led to the consideration and representation of the beau- 
tiful and the true ; and, again, that it is the apprehension 
of the beautiful which leads to consideration, representa- 
tion, and apprehension of the true. The child, in a word, 
follows the same path as the man, and advances from use to 
beauty, and from beauty to truth. 

In presenting this gift I have, however, purposely given 
the precedence to the forms of knowledge. My object is to 
make parents and kindergartners familiar with the nature 
of the gift and its possible mathematical combinations. 
In proportion as the leader is thoroughly acquainted with 
the material of the gift will be the profit of the plays to 
which he or she will incite the child, and the pleasure of 
such plays both to leader and child. 

With regard to the production of forms of life the 

* Froebel means that whereas in presenting the gift he has be- 
gun with forms of knowledge, the true point of departure for chil- 
dren must always be the forms of Ufe. 



220 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN.^ 

same principle holds good as in the production of forms 
of knowledge. It is essential to proceed from the cube 
as a whole. In this way the conception of the whole, of 
unity, stamps itself upon the child's mind, and the evo- 
lution of the particular, partial and manifold, from unity 
is illustrated. 

If, now, the box is packed, as above described, so that 
the divided component cubes lie beneath on the bottom 
of it, it is only necessary for the child at the beginning 
of the play to reverse the box, draw away the cover, raise 
the box vertically and take it away, and the cube stands 
in complete order before the child. The object may be 
brought near to the life of the child by the words : A 
talle — a table ; a house — a house ; or whatever else the 
imagination compares it to or will see in it. 

From this an armchair or a seat can be immediately 
made ; it is necessary merely to place the row of halved 
cubes upon the row of undivided cubes ; this gives the 
back; the cubes divided in quarters can then be easily 
separated, and each two quarters placed together in a 
little four-sided column for arms on both sides, three col^ 
umns to each side. This chair can be again easily changed 
into a divan (seat of repose), and this again into a sofa. 
From this is then soon formed another armchair with 
half oblique back and arms, and footbench, from which 
can be easily made a ledstead^ a chiWs hed^ etc. 

Proceeding again from the cube, a large business table 
may be represented ; from this two different sideboards, a 
writing table, with a chair, and a basket for paper. Al- 
though his representations are not before him at one 
time, yet the child can comprise them all in rhyme, bring 
them before himself in perception and remembrance, and 
so survey them as a whole ; for example : 



TEE FIFTH GIFT. 221 

See how many a pretty thing 
I always from the cube can bring : 
Chair and sofa,, bench and table, 
Desk to write at when I'm able, 
All the household furniture, 
Even baby's bed, I'm sure ; 
Not a few such things I see ; 
Stove and sideboard here can be. 
Many things, both old and new. 
My dear cube brings into view ; 
So my cube much pleases me, 
Because through it so much I see. 
It is a little world. 

Again, proceeding from the cube, we obtain one large 
and two small traveling trunks with arched lids ; in the 
first an empty space of the size of one component cube. 

From this, again, the course is quite simple and easy 
to buildings and houses, which the children especially 
like to make. House and room, table and bench, are 
usually the first things the child represents, and he likes 
the former best opened with doors and windows. This is 
quite natural, for the child's world, from the remem- 
brance of which come his formations and his concep- 
tions, is at first principally confined to house and room, 
table, bench, and bed. 

The child's life moves from the house and its living- 
rooms, through kitchen and cellar,* through yard and 
garden, to the wider space and activity of street and mar- 
ket, and this expansion of life is clearly reflected in the 
order and development of his productions. 

House stairs, and outside steps, wells, church, puUic 
hall, the whole village with its principal buildings, then 

* The child also loves to build kitchen and cellar, incited there- 
to, perhaps, by the fascination of the hidden and mysterious. 



222 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

again the puhlic oven alone, the marTcet place ^ and here 
again the townhall or the guardhouse^ the city gate, 
and, going out through this, the Iridge appears. It may 
be seen from this how intimately my gifts are connected 
with the course of the child's inner and outer develop- 
ment; how they promote and illuminate this deyelop- 
ment ; how the child by means of them strengthens and, 
as it were, grows out of himself. His representations pro- 
ceed from his nearest experiences, and are intimately con- 
nected with them. The child is not forcibly torn away 
from his inner world and from his enyironment. But 
the mother or kindergartner has many opportunities of 
correcting the child's perceptions by his representations ; 
and the amendments will be gladly accepted by the child 
if only they lie within the circle of his experiences and 
ideas. As these building gifts afford a means of clearing 
the perceptions of the child, they give occasion for ex- 
tending these perceptions, and for representing in their 
essential parts, objects of which the child has only heard, 
as was the case in the above representations. (Thus the 
village child has heard only of the guardhouse, and the 
city child of the public oven, and probably neither of 
them has seen the monuments, the columns of honor, the 
lighthouses, the hermitages, etc., which may also be rep- 
resented.) Instructive and elevating explanations and 
stories, forming mind and heart, can be joined with these 
representations of the children, and experience has shown 
that children are then doubly attentive ; it seems as if the 
story made more impression on the child when referring 
to his own work. 

Children of five years of age, who have gone through 
with similar exercises with the previous gifts, can build in 
common at the same time. For example : 



THE FIFTH GIFT, 223 

Lay four times two whole cubes in an oblong before 
you ; place perpendicularly upon them again four times 
two whole cubes. Over each two cubes lay two half 
cubes, so that they touch in the middle by their sharp 
edges; with the last two cubes, each of the two half 
cubes yet required is represented by two quarters. In the 
long hollow thus made sink four whole cubes. What 
have you made which now stands before each of you? 
" A house with an overhanging roof, four cubes high and 
two cubes broad." 

What have each of you still left ? " A whole cube and 
two cubes each divided into quarters." 

Place the one whole cube by the right gable exactly in 
the middle of the wall. 

Place one of the cubes, divided into quarters, in the 
same way, in the middle of the left gable wall. 

Divide the quartered cube into two halves, and lay 
each of these halves in roof form on each of the two cubes 
so that the two small roofs shall slope in the same direc- 
tion as the large roof. What have you now ? " Two 
little outbuildings to the right and left of the house." 
" A large house with two little outbuildings, one on each 
side, each of the size of one cube, with an overhanging 
roof of a half cube." Can you, each of you, now build 
this alone ? " Yes ! yes ! " Well, then, do it. 

This play also gives great pleasure. This pleasure, as 
well as the principal characteristics of his product, can 
also be expressed by the child in song : 

A house, a house, a house ! 
A house belongs to me. 
A house, a house, a house ! 
^ Come here, come here and see ! 

In length it is four cubes, ' 

In breadth it is two cubes ; 



224 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

In this house one has no fear. 
Room, in grief and joy * is here 
It is two cubes high ; 
A broad roof here I spy. 
For smaller matters stand 
Two houses at each hand. 

In order further to exercise the child's power of mem- 
ory and conception, all the space in the house may be 
filled with things with which the child is familiar ; for ex- 
ample, here is the sitting-room, here the kitchen, etc. 

A quite peculiar kind of architecture which the chil- 
dren like very much is that which is designated by the 
name of art luilding ; the forms originate especially in a 
separation and grouping of the parts determined by sym- 
metry and proportion, principally in vertical mural sur- 
face extension, but also in erections having in both 
horizontal and vertical extension at the same time ; these 
erections receive, then, predominantly the character and 
expression of the columnar and monumental. 

From this art building in horizontal and vertical ex- 
tension proceed then easily 

The Picture Forms, or Forms of Beauty. 

These forms of beauty may, however, also be pro- 
duced by proceeding from certain forms of life and archi- 
tectural forms — e. g., from a four-sided well, or from a 
square table with ornaments and four cushioned seats. 

"With these forms of beauty it is above all important 
that they be developed one from another. Each form in 
the series should be a modification or transformation of 
its predecessor. No form should be entirely destroyed. 

* " Gjbt Raum in Leid und Freud'." 



THE FIFTH GIFT. 225 

It is also essential that the series should be developed so 
that each step .should show either an evolution into 
greater manifoldness and variety, or a return to greater 
simplicity. These points have been already discussed in 
connection with the forms of life, and also in the chap- 
ters devoted to the consideration of the third and fourth 
gifts. 

We may either let the child proceed voluntarily to 
these forms from any chosen form of life, or we may 
make the series of picture forms proceed from a fixed 
and simple starting point. Before, however, carrying out 
the latter course the following fact should be consid- 
ered : 

The fifth gift is a cube of three times three times 
three, and contains twenty-seven component cubes. 
Therefore either the equilateral triangular form or the 
square form can be represented by it. Thus all the forms 
of beauty of the fifth gift are essentially different from 
those of the third and fourth gifts in this, that they 
separate themselves into two great distinct series : 

The series of squares and the series of triangles. 

The surest foundation of both, as series of cultivation 
and development, is found in the forms of knowledge. 
This foundation of the first series is found in that form 
of knowledge in which the cube is divided into four 
prisms (whose bases are isosceles triangles, each of which 
is composed of four and a half component cubes), and 
one square prism or tablet of nine cubes, around which 
the four triangular prisms are arranged in a square form. 
(See Supplement, Plate XII, Fig. 1.) 

The second series of forms of beauty (the triangular 
forms), on the contrary, find their best foundation in 
that form of knowledge in which the cube is divide4 



226 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

from right to left into three equal beam-shaped parts. 
These parts are easily put together, so as to inclose an 
equilateral triangle. Each of the sides of this inclosure 
is nine cubes long. (See Plate X, Fig. 4.) 

We contemplate here, first of all, a series of forms of 
beauty which can be developed from the fundamental 
form of the square. (See Plate XII, Fig. 1.) 

The essential beauty and the developing and forming 
influence of these plays, for which the greatest freedom 
is always given in respect to the choice of the starting 
point, consist in the fact that when a way of formation 
and development, a way of representation, is once entered 
upon, and we wish to come to a definite, clear aim in a 
definite, clear manner, we must always proceed in accord- 
ance with the chosen way till we attain to the ultimate 
aim of the development. This course of development, 
everywhere perceptible in these plays, expresses itself 
here with special clearness. 

In the second place, it is important that each line of 
development entered upon be clearly, sharply, and exactly 
apprehended both by ourselves and by the playing child. 
Perception must be clear, use and adaptation exact, and 
the words in which our procedure is described specific. 
This manner of carrying out the play is of every possible 
advantage, not only in its influence in the culture of the 
child's intellect, heart, and practical efficiency, but also 
in its power of creating a trustful relationship between 
the nurturer and the nurtured, mother and child, kinder- 
gartner and pupil. Such a trustful relationship is kept 
intact by an easily comprehended interchange of thought 
and act. 

So in the case before us, especially with the execution 
of the first series of the forms of beauty proceeding 



THE FIFTH GIFT. 227 

from the square. (Compare the above-named Plate XII, 
Figs. 1-6.) 

Inner and outer are pure opposites ; therefore it may 
be left to the playing child himself to begin his changes 
from the square prism in the middle, or from the four 
triangular prisms outside. Inner and outer appear also 
in each of these two cases as opposites ; and so the play- 
ing child may begin his play either in the middle of the 
square prism or in its outer cubes ; either with the inner 
or outer sides of the triangular prism. 

A still further choice is whether the movement shall 
be on all sides (that is, on four sides), or on two and two. 
Each beginning requires a specific development, as a cer- 
tain limitation is always implied in so much change and 
freedom. Of course, each series of development may ba 
broken off at any stage, and a new one entered upon, 
but then the playing child should himself (in the stated 
manner, although not by words, yet clearly, according to 
the object and the perception) give an account of the 
connected ways of formation through which the accom- 
plished form has resulted. 

We will now proceed from the fundamental form 
(Plate XII, Fig. 1). This form, though simple, bears a 
great variety within itself and renders a yet greater one 
possible. The way of formation is that of unfolding 
from the middle on all sides. 

Firstly, therefore, the four cubes a in the corners of 
the square prism are moved outward in a straight direc- 
tion to the point where they are, as it were, fixed fast. 
Now, the four cubes 5 move in the same way to the four 
sides of the square ; these together, when accomplished, 
give the form (Plate XII, Fig. 2). 

This movement of both is continued, bringing the 



228 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

first four cubes a to the corners of the principal square 
prism, and the second four cubes h to the place of the 
cubes a, giving the form in Plate XII, Fig. 3. 

These eight cubes, continuing their path of formation 
symmetrically (round to the right or to the left), give the 
form in Plate XII, Fig. 4. 

If this way of development is further continued, this 
gives again the outward appearance of Fig. 3, although 
represented by wholly different cubes or members— that 
is, where the cube or member a stood before, the cube 
or member h now stands, and where h stood a now 
stands. The position of the cubes has thus wholly 
changed, notwithstanding the outward appearance is the 
same. 

This change in the members of a whole, while the 
whole itself remains the same, is a fact of great impor- 
tance for the child to observe. It is a law of Nature and 
of life, and one which must be recognized in studying 
Nature and life. Hence in the course of our plays it 
shall be frequently referred to, though only in the way of 
cursory suggestion. Other important laws of Nature and 
development will be dealt with in the same way — e. g., 
the law that the course of development may be different, 
but its point of departure must always be either from 
within, from without, or from that which mediates inner 
and outer. 

The four cubes a now return to their places, the four 
cubes 1) remain, as it were, firmly fixed at the corners ; 
this gives the first part of the form (Plate XII, Fig. 5). 

Now the developments begin in the four triangular 
prisms, in the middle of the longer sides (which are turned 
inward), and with the half cubes each of which is again di- 
vided into two parts or quarters ; first,' they may, while 



THE FIFTH GIFT. 229 

still united, merely step forth from their connection with 
the whole, giving the form Fig. 5. 

But now they may themselves separate, and, as it were, 
one half be attracted by the middle, one half by the out- 
side. But at the same time a development may proceed 
in the right-angled corners of the triangular prism, so that 
the outside corner cube &, with the one already standing 
at the corner, may touch the two whole cubes of the cen- 
tral prism by their edges. This gives Fig. 6. 

With these ways of formation, the precise aims and 
final form toward which the whole course of development 
works, should be kept in mind, so that at last the whole 
appears as a purely encircling form, or as a rectangular 
ray-form, or as a wheel-form, connecting the two. 

Each of these conceptions, again, admits of a double 
manner of representation, and the environing form may 
be either a circle or a square ; the crossing rays may be 
either in right or oUique position, and the same may be 
said of the connection of both. 

Be it here remarked, in respect to all forms of beauty 
developed both from the square or the triangular prism, 
that it is essentially good if they be brought before the 
playing child for quiet, clear, thoughtful consideration, 
even if this be actually only through the relations of num- 
ber. Thus we may proceed from a corner, which we 
touch with the fingers, accompanying the act with words 

as follows : 

Two and four and one and three. 

Or, while contemplating the circle form : 

Two and two and two and two, 
Four and four and four and four, 
One and one and one and one, 
Three and three, three and three more I 



230 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Or— 

Four times two, 
Four times four, 
Four times one, 

and 
Four times three ! 

(Compare Plate XII, Fig. 6.) 

The fact remains to be brought out that very beauti- 
ful forms of connection show themselves between the 
forms of beauty from the square prism and the forms of 
life or architectural forms ; these are the forms used in 
fortification. Reference can here be made only to Plate 
VIII, of the forms of beauty in the lithographed pages of 
the fifth gift. A connoisseur in art said about this that 
Fig. 42, Plate VIII, is actually the simple fundamental 
form of the art of fortification. 

We now turn to the triangular forms of beauty. 

As the starting point, it appears here best and simplest 
to proceed from a triangular inclosure, each side of which 
is bounded by nine part cubes, and then fix upon the con- 
dition of advancement, viz., that the triangle remains the 
fundamental form of each newly developed figure; but 
that, in order to attain at the same time greater change 
and greater variety, one cube more at each change is by 
degrees set free for voluntary movement ; so that the first 
boundary form contains on each of its sides nine, the 
second eight, the third seve7i of our component cubes, etc., 
and in the second case one, in the third two component 
cubes, or their parts, are destined for alternating move- 
ment. (Compare Plate XIII, Fig. 1, the starting point ; 
in each of its sides are nine component cubes.) 

Since each side, according to the stated limitation, 
must contain this number, so here no other alteration can 



THE FIFTH GIFT. 231 

be further undertaken than shifting the cubes inside the 
series, either toward the inside or outside, yet only so that 
the direct coherence within the sides and among the cubes 
be not thereby broken up ; thus that the pushed-out cube 
be pushed out of a certain part (one fourth, one half, three 
fourths, etc.) of the one side, but always so that side re- 
main connected with side. Each side of the original 
form, which at first was straight, may now appear as a 
broken line, or as a serpentine line bending in and out at 
one side or at the other, or as a wholly curved line, bend- 
ing either inward or outward. 

Simple as this alteration appears, it yet yields very 
manifold forms, and pleases the child just on account of 
the ease with which it can be accomplished. 

Now a cube is set free for play, that is, for movement 
(Plate XIII, Fig. 2). What different positions may this 
one cube take ? 

It may move either inside or outside of the inclosing 
cubes. 

In each of these two cases, again, it may be placed 
either in the angle (on the corner) or at the side ; and 
here, again, either with a side or with an edge turned 
toward the side or the angle (corner) of the inclosing 
line of cubes. 

There are thus given six different forms, which, how- 
ever, in the series of their representation yield a logical 
whole, so that the child gains practice in seeking for 
logical members. 

Further, these three free cubes may combine in the 
center of the triangle, and here, again, in a threefold 
manner: either always with an edge, or always with a 
side of each turned toward the other ; or, thirdly, in con- 
nection, so that the edge of the one cube is always 



232 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

turned toward and touches the side of the other. In the 
first case, three edges touch in the center ; in the second 
case, each two edges, and this three times. 

Here, again, is rendered prominent the law so highly 
important for life, and therefore so manifoldly expressed 
in nature, and hence, also, in my series of gifts — the 
law, viz., that in nature and in life a third connecting 
appearance always shows itself between two purely oppo- 
site appearances. This phenomenon was pointed out as 
essential even with the forms of beauty of the third gift, 
and on account of its deep significance we shall often 
return to it in the course of our demonstration. 

Yet the alterations which are possible with a trian- 
gular form, one side of which contains eight component 
cubes, thus leaving one cube for free play, are by no 
means exhausted by what has been now brought forward. 
This whole component cube may again be diagonally 
divided into two equal parts, or, otherwise expressed, 
instead of playing with one whole cube the child may 
be permitted to play with two half cubes in the stated 
division. To give here all the alterations which are pos- 
sible in this case would be impracticable, easy as they are 
in the execution. 

The principal alterations may be : First, the two 
halves are divided (see Plate XIII, Fig. 3) ; then, again, 
combined to form a prism whose bases are a right-angled 
triangle. 

In the first case, not only may all the combinations 
above given with one cube be carried out — for example, 
so that both stand either on the side of the line of in- 
closing cubes, or in the angle where two lines meet, and 
here, again, placed toward the outside or toward the in- 
side; but these positions may also be manifoldly con- 



THE FIFTH GIFT. 283 

nected ; for instance, one outside, one inside ; one at the 
side and one in -the angle or at the corner. 

In the second case, where the two halves appear as 
triangular prisms, at least all the combinations take place 
which have already been given above with one cube, so 
that it is easy to suppose, and by calculation approxi- 
mately find, that about one hundred combinations, or 
rather different representations, are possible by means of 
the cube divided into two halves. And we are still a 
great distance from the end. One of the half cubes may 
be again divided into two quarters, so that thus the alter- 
able members are three : one half and two quarters for 
each side. What a multitude of connections and alter- 
ations are given by these three members, only at one side 
and only in one direction I The total number of repre- 
sentations beginning with these three members, accord- 
ing to a general estimate, may amount to nearly three 
hundred. Notwithstanding, we are not yet at an end 
with the representations by means of one cube ; for the 
second half cube may be replaced by two more quarters, so 
that thus four quarters are free to move. Let us here, 
again, assume as possible only five hundred new altera- 
tions, which is certainly not too much in proportion to the 
former ones ; then with the triangle (Fig. 1), where eight 
part cubes are on each side and one part cube either un- 
divided or in two halves, or in one half and two quarters, 
or in four quarters, is free for alternate transposition, 
nearly one thousand different representations are possible. 

It may easily be seen from this how necessary it is to 
separate and classify the number of possible representa- 
tions, so that the child may not be oppressed, or at least 
wearied, by their multitude. A want of classification 

is the bane of all the combination plays for children 
18 ^ ^ 



234 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

which have till now been known to me, and the said 
plays lose by this their formative influence for spirit and 
mind, as well as their applicability for life. But here 
each limitation made excludes a countless number of 
forms, and the child and kindergartner easily find their 
way amid the manifold ness of possible forms, and define 
the place where they stand. This may at least be done 
by the guide who is a true guide in virtue of ability to 
make such limitation and discrimination. Thus these 
plays are not oppressive and wearying, do not lead into 
unfathomable depths, but, on the contrary, are truly 
strengthening and developing. The educator at least 
always knows where he is at home, whence the child pro- 
ceeds, whither his direction tends, and to what side he 
turns. 

As in the preceding series there were always eight 
cubes remaining in each side of the inclosing form, so in 
the next there must be but seven ; thus Uuo cubes are free 
for play. These two may now be either both undivided 
(see Plate XIII, Fig. 4), or one cube undivided, the 
other divided ; and, again, either into two halves, or into 
one half and two quarters ; or into four quarters (Fig. 5). 
Or both cubes are divided either into four halves, or into 
three halves and two quarters; or into two halves and 
four quarters (Fig. 6) ; or into one half and six quarters ; 
or into eight quarters. 

Whoever has attentively followed the course of play 
up to this point will be aware of the great number of 
possible representations, and will realize how essential to 
the welfare of the child it is to restrict the freedom of 
change by limiting it to fixed members and by determin- 
ing it to a definite direction and goal. 

It is evident that with all the representations indi- 



THE FIFTH GIFT. 235 

cated may be connected a movement in the environing 
cubes. This form of change has purposely been omitted, 
in order not to bewilder the imagination vrith too much 
variety. These pushings in and out may, however, be 
carried out practically with the different representations, 
and will give to the play an entirely new charm. Here I 
can only refer to the lithograph plates for the fifth gift, 
especially Plate B, Figs. 10, 11, and 12, where such rep- 
resentations are carried out. 

The smaller the number of the cubes which must re- 
main in one side of the fundamental form, the more nu- 
merous in parts and the richer in structure become the 
representations. The individual parts as well as the 
whole also tend toward the curved form. I must here 
again refer to the lithograph plates of this gift, especially 
Plates C and D. 

Erom this point the progress can be easily made to 
two and two sided forms, rectangular as well as curved, 
and from these to the circle as the conclusion of the 
whole series of representations. 

From these forms approximating to the circle there is 
an easy transition to the representation of the different 
kinds of cog-wheels, and hence to a crude preliminary 
idea of mechanics. 

Mediational between the triangular forms of beauty 
and the forms of life are the representations of intrench- 
ments, sconces, and redoubts. Allusion has been made 
to forms of this kind in connection with the transitions 
from forms of beauty based upon the square and forms 
of life. A few of these are given on the lithograph 
plates of the fifth gift — life forms (Plate XIX). 

As the outcome of the representations indicated it is 
clear that in the forms made with the fifth gift there 



236 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

rules a living spirit of unity. Even members and direc- 
tions which are apparently isolated are discovered to be 
related by significant connecting members and links, and 
the whole shows itself in all its parts as one and living 
— therefore also as a life-rousing, life-nurturing, and life- 
developing totality. 

In conclusion, just a single word with regard to the 
use of the lithographed leaves. 

These leaves are intended originally and predomi- 
nantly for parents and kindergartners, and their object 
is to help the person who is to guide the child's play to a 
comprehensive view of the gift as a whole, in order that 
she may intelligently follow the indications given by the 
children, and may be able to show to the latter the mean- 
ing of their own productions, and the connection of these 
productions with their life, its moving impulses and its 
demands. 

Later, when the children have discovered and made 
several, or indeed most, of the things represented by the 
plates, or at least similar ones, then the diagrams rep- 
resenting the things they have themselves formed may 
be shown to them for imitation. This serves several 
purposes : it gives them a picture of what they have 
already represented and may again represent like the 
picture ; it makes their insight into the whole more clear, 
and it extends their survey ; finally, it develops their 
power of thought, makes their conceptions richer and 
more definite, and their representations of these concep- 
tions more sure and fixed. Thus it awakens in them the 
power and desire to increase such conceptions by the 
contemplation of sculpture and pictures, whenever they 
have an opportunity. 



XIV. 

MOVEMENT PLATS. 
(See Plates XIV, XV.) 

IiT every activity and deed of man — yes, even in every 
activity of the smallest child — is expressed a relationship. 
Each act attempts to promote some end or to represent 
some idea. To realize his aims, man, and more par- 
ticularly the child, requires a material (a substantial par- 
ticular means, though it be only a bit of wood, or a peb- 
ble) with which he makes something or which he makes 
into something. In order to lead the child to the han- 
dling of material, we gave him the ball ; the sphere which 
develops from it ; the cube and the other bodies discussed 
in the chapters relating to the kindergarten gifts. Each 
of these gifts incites the child to free self-activity, to in- 
dependent movement. Up to the present, however, no 
special consideration has been given to the movement 
plays which develop from the gifts. This omission has 
been deliberate, and has been in the spirit of my general 
method of development and nurture — a method which 
descends from the universal to the particular, from the 
whole to the part, from unity to diversity. Now, how- 
ever, that we have reached a determinate point in the 
consideration of those plays which require a given ma- 
terial, it is well that we should also give our attention to 



238 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

the pure movement plays. It would have been preferable, 
before discussing the movement plays, to explain the sixth 
gift (the cube divided into twenty-seven bricks, three of 
which are divided lengthwise, and six of which are di- 
vided crosswise into square prisms) ; but in this case it 
would have been necessary to postpone too indefinitely 
my answer to the appeals which flow in from all sides 
with reference to the kindergarten games. To these 
games I shall now exclusively confine myself. 

For the nurture and development of childhood it 
is by no means sufficient to respond through play 
material to the external manifestations of unfolding 
power. We must spy out the inner process and meth- 
od of development and meet the needs indicated 
thereby. 

All outer activity of the child has its final ground in 
his inmost nature and life. The deepest craving of this 
inner life, this inner activity, is to behold itself mirrored 
in some external object. In and through such reflection 
the child learns to know his own activity, its essence, 
direction, and aim, and learns also to order and deter- 
mine his activity in correspondence with the outward 
phenomena. Such mirroring of the inner life, such 
making of the inner life objective, is essential, for 
through it the child comes to self-consciousness, and 
learns to order, determine, and master himself. The 
child must perceive and grasp his own life in an ob- 
jective manifestation before he can perceive and grasp it 
in himself. This law of development, prescribed by Na- 
ture and by the essential character of the child, must 
always be respected and obeyed by the true educator. 
Its recognition is the aim of my gifts and games appre- 
hended relatively to the educator. 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 239 

The external .phenomena in the active life of the child 
must not be considered externally and isolatedly by the 
educator. They must always be studied in their relation 
to the inner life, either as proceeding from it or in their 
recoil upon it. The children themselves will be our guides 
and teachers in this twofold consideration. The smallest 
child moves joyfully, springs gayly, hops up and down, 
or beats with his arms when he sees a moving object. 
This is certainly not merely delight in the movement of 
the object before him, but it is the working of the inner 
activity wakened in him by the sight of outer activity. 
Through such vision the inner life has been freed. Fur- 
thermore, observation even of very small children shows 
that they do not rest contented in the moving object, but 
seek to find out whence the movement proceeds. Similar 
should be the procedure of the educator with reference to 
objects in movement (movement perhaps called forth by 
the child's own activity). In the nurture, development, 
and education of the child, and especially in the effort to 
capacitate him for action, his own nature, life, energy, 
must be the main consideration. The knowledge of iso- 
lated and external phenomena may occasionally be a guide- 
post pointing our direction, but it can never be a path 
leading to the specific aim of child culture and education ; 
for the condition of child education is none other than 
comprehension of the whole nature and essence of hu- 
manity as manifested in the child, and the most com- 
plete possible realization and representation of the same, 
from the first appearance of the man as child and through- 
out the whole course of life. No education which fails to 
hold this aim consciously and persistently in view can, 
strictly speaking, claim to be an education worthy the 
nature of man. 



240 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

After this introductory preface we consider the move- 
ment plays, their starting point, and their course of de- 
velopment. 

Starting Poiis't an^d Course of Development of 
THE Movement Plays. 

The child, although unconsciously, strives to make his 
inner life outwardly objective, and thus perceptible, and 
so to become conscious of it, to see it mirrored in the 
outward phenomena. It is for this reason that the child 
tries to do himself whatever he sees done. 

The ball may now be set in motion, either by the 
activity of the child or that of the mother. 

Let it, therefore. 

Its power to prove, 

Stir and move, 

Go and come, 

Roll and run, 

Hop and spring. 

Turn and swing, 

Go low, then high. 

In circle fly, 

Go far, come, nigh. 

From one place to another then 

The little ball can roam again. 

But it can also hide itself, 

To tease the little one ; 

Away into the dark can go. 

Or fly toward the sun. 
All this the little child can learn. 
Can gladly in the ball discern, 
And learn to trust his strength in turn. 
What rich, what active life and thought 
The ball to this young child has brought I 
The life in both but one life stays, 
Though it so many forms displays. 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 241 

In these activities of the ball, which in reality and 
practice yield more variety than is here indicated, the 
whole of the movement plays are contained as in a germ. 
The manner of their development is also in some degree 
implied, or shown, as it were, in a rough sketch. 

As the ball stirs, moves, goes, runs, and rolls, the child 
who is playing with it begins to feel the desire to do like- 
wise. Thus the little game, "The child wants to go, 
too!" was actually born of the incitement of the ball- 
plays. 

Each sure and independent movement, either of his 
whole body or of one of his limbs, gives the child pleasure 
because of the feeling of power which it arouses in him. 
Even simple walking produces this effect, for it gives the 
child a threefold feeling, a threefold consciousness : First, 
the consciousness that he moves himself ; second, that he 
moves himself from one place to another ; third, that 
through this movement he attains or reaches something. 

If, therefore, we desire to work beneficently upon the 
future activity of a child, if we wish to give a solid foun- 
dation to his later doing and creating, we must carefully 
observe and foster his earliest activities, his earliest move- 
ments, his first walking. 

It is a well-established fact that his first walking gives 
the child pleasure as an expression of his power. To this 
pleasure, however, are soon added the two joy-bringing per- 
ceptions of thus coming to something, and of being able 
to attain something. These several perceptions should all 
be fostered at the same time. Care should be taken that 
the child use his whole power even in his earliest walk- 
ing. He should move securely, firmly, and in an orderly 
manner. In other words, he should get his limbs, and 
indeed his whole body, into his own power. He should 



242 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

learn to use his bodily strength, and the activity of his 
limbs for definite purposes. The careful guidance of the 
child in these respects is important for his whole future 
life, and undoubtedly the very first manifestations of the 
child in his own attempts at walking point to the three- 
fold consciousness and purpose indicated. Thus, when 
holding by the hand or finger of mother or nurse, the 
child makes his first attempts at walking he frequently 
tries to go to some particular object (often, too, he will 
avoid some particular object in order not to be impeded 
in his walking). The effort to reach a particular object 
may have its source in the child's desire to hold himself 
firm and upright by means of it, but we also observe that 
it gives him pleasure to be actually near the object, to 
touch it, to feel it, to grasp it, and perhaps also — which is 
a new phase of activity — to be able to move it. Hence we 
see that the child, when he has reached the desired object, 
hops up and down before it, and beats on it with his little 
arms and hands, in order, as it were, to assure himself of 
the reality of the object and to notice its qualities. 

It is well, while the child is making these experi- 
ments, to name the object — e. g., There is the chair, the 
table, the bench, the fiower, the sister, etc. 

In like manner it is well to name the parts of the 
object — e. g. : This is, or here is, the seat ; here is the leg ; 
here is the corner ; here is the edge, etc. Its properties 
may also be named : The chair is hard or soft ; the seat 
is smooth; the corner is pointed; the edge is sharp. 
The object of giving these names is not primarily the 
development of the child's power of speech, but to assist 
his comprehension of the object, its parts and its proper- 
ties, by defining his sense-impressions. Through a rich 
store of such experiences the capacity for speech will of 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 243 

necessity be developed. Language will, in accord with 
the nature of spirit, break forth of itself through the 
augmentation of spiritual self-activity. 

In order to help the child to this store of rich experi- 
ences it is well, from the time that he begins to walk, to 
accustom him to raise himself to his feet by the help of 
different objects, and also to incite him to go around such 
objects. Each new phenomenon is a discovery in the 
child's small and yet rich world — e. g., one may go 
round the chair ; one may stand before it, behind it, 
beside it, but one can not go behind the bench or the 
wall. 

Proceeding in this way, the nurture of the child ceases 
to be a task performed thoughtlessly and tediously, and 
becomes a duty which arouses and nourishes the spirit, 
and satisfies the inner nature. When these truths are 
understood, the noble and blessed calling of a true nurse 
will be entered upon not from motives of cold external 
obligation, but for the satisfaction and fulfilment of the 
craving for a higher degree of inward life. 

The smallest child who begins to exercise the power 
of walking loves to go from place to place — i. e., he likes 
to turn about and to change the relationships in which 
he stands to different objects, and in which they stand to 
him. Through these changes he seeks self-recognition 
and self -comprehension, as well as recognition of the dif- 
ferent objects which surround him, and recognition of his 
environment as a whole. Each little walk is a tour of 
discovery ; each object is an America — a new world, which 
he either goes around to see if it be an island, or whose 
coast he follows to discover if it be a continent. 

Aiter this apparent digression, which is, however, in 
reality not a digression but a penetration into the heart 



244 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

of our subject, let us return to our movement plays, and 
especially to our first movement play, " The child wants 
to go on a journey " ; recognizing therein the point of de- 
parture for a new and distinctive series of games — viz. : 

A. The Teayelling or JouEKEYiiq^G Plays. 

The significance, spirit, and aim of these plays we 
have already recognized. They are plays whose object is 
to exercise and develop the child's power of independent 
movement. They are journeys of discovery. They are 
plays which enrich the child with perceptions and expe- 
riences. 

1. The Child wants to travel^ or go about. 

For this play the children stand in a circle ; the ball 
has just moved from one child to another, and has thus 
called forth the desire for locomotion in the child. I 
might say that one can feel this in the children, even in 
one particular child. Eemarking this, let the wandering 
of the ball cease, and, while drawing the child by the hand 
into the middle of the circle, express the observation just 
made, " Lina [or Adolph, for example] wishes also to 
walk about." 

Or if the kindergartner perceives that the wandering 
of the ball no longer enchains the attention of the chil- 
dren, let her awaken the slumbering inclination of the 
children by the question, " Will not one of you also walk 
about?" We have never yet asked this question that 
several children have not at the same time stepped forth 
and called out, " I," « I," « I." 

The leader now sings to the play-circle : 

Our Lina [Adolph] likes to walk 
From one place [child] to another. 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 245 

Or from the heart and lips of the child itself come the 

words : 

I, too, would like to walk, etc. 

While the child who desires to walk steps up to any 
one in the circle, reaches his hand to that one and moves 
relatively to himself from the right to the left, but rela- 
tively to the circle of children from the left to the right 
hand ; the children sing ; 

Our Lina [Adolph] you see will walk 
From one place [child] to another. 

As the walking child holds out the right hand, each 
child in the circle responds by extending the right hand 
toward him. 

Smaller children can, at the first, be permitted to go 
round merely with this silent offering of the hand ; but 
the next time, or even at once with larger children, the 
greeting may be added : 

And wish you a good day, good day, 
Good day, good day, good day. 

Or the song proceeds from the children in the circle : 

And wish us a good day, good day, etc. 

The walking child, moving on, reaches his right hand 
to another child, and says " Good day " at the same time. 
The greeted child in the circle does the same. 

The children play this game very willingly. When 
one child has ended his walking, several more always step 
forward who wish to "walk" in the same way. It is, 
of course, understood that the leader must see that all the 
children have walked at the close of the play. 

An extension of this play may be added at the close 
of the walking of each child, by asking the child, who 
has again placed himself in the middle : 



246 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

" Whom have you then learned to know on yonr 
journey?" 

As an answer to this, the child must mention the 
names of the children standing in the circle. This brings 
about a double exercise : it teaches him not to pass by 
objects without observing them, and also helps him to 
form a definite conception of the name of the object and 
its qualities, or at least its general impression. A third 
exercise may be added to this, viz., older children may be 
required to name their companions in the exact order in 
which they were greeted. This is a very beneficial exer- 
cise, as it links memory and perception ; it also exercises 
the power of grasping objects in a series and of holding 
in mind their arrangement and sequence. 

Very young children may be permitted at first to point 
with one finger to each child as he is named (the name 
"pointing" finger receives thus its true significance). 
Older children should merely follow with their eyes the 
order of the children standing on the circle. The still 
more developed child should be able to name the children 
standing on the circle in proper order, even when his back 
is turned toward them. Finally, when the child has gained 
a degree of intellectual power, he should be asked to close 
his eyes and name his comrades on the circle in their proper 
order, and, if he has an unusually vigorous and active 
mind, he may even mention their names in reverse order. 

These hints are sufficient to show that the walking 
game admits of a progressive development running paral- 
lel with the development of the child's intellectual power. 
It admits also of a progressive external development, for, 
as the child gains power of walking longer, the children on 
the circle can step farther apart and thus increase its size. 

Instead of arranging themselves in a circle, the chil- 



' MOVEMENT PLAYS. 247 

dren may form a square or rectangle, if the shape of the 
playroom permits. 

I purposely recur to the possibility of development 
which lies in the simplest of the plays suggested by me ; 
for through this capacity for development they meet the 
requirement insisted upon, that each new and separate 
play should develop from those already given. This qual- 
ity of continuous evolution in correspondence with the 
unfolding of the child gives a quite peculiar value to my 
plays and my method of playing. 

Following the genetic idea of the walking game, our 
next development and extension of the play must be the 
walking of all the children at once. This development 
came of itself in the playroom, unfolding naturally from 
the children and the game. 

It is natural (i. e., it lies wholly in the nature of the 
object and in the nature of the child) that the wandering 
of the individual should awaken the impulse of wandering 
in all, and should inspire the desire of wandering together. 
Thus, in actual experience, the general wandering or trav- 
eling game arose as a spontaneous and yet necessary de- 
velopment, just as leaves and blossoms develop from the 
bud. Let us now describe — 

3. The General Traveling Game. 

The children are standing side by side on the circle. 
The magical question of the leader, " Would you all like 
to go on a journey ? " raises into consciousness, or at least 
into articulate feeling, the wish that slumbers in each 
heart, and the children arrange themselves easily by twos 
in a line. The leader gives expression to the wish stirring 
in all, in the form of a song, the words of which she re- 
peats while walking around the room. The words are 



248 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

learned with unconscious quickness by the children, be- 
cause expressive of their own life. When learned, leader 
and children sing in concert : 

We all like well to walk about 

From one place to another ; 

This walking suits us well to-day, 

For all things in the world look gay. 

Walking, walking, walking. 

I have described the blossoming of this play out of 
the life of the children just as it actually occurred. Im- 
agine the line of wandering children moving repeatedly 
around the playroom, and occasionally making a change 
by marching on its diagonal. The words " All things in 
the world look gay " wakens the wish to see the gay and 
beautiful world, and on the first spring day the shining 
sun beckons through the window, and the clear blue sky 
is seen through it, the doors open as if of themselves, they 
open repeatedly, and the gay garland of child-flowers goes 
through them into the open air, singing first with in- 
creased zest the already given words, then giving words 
to the new observations and perceptions for which God's 
free world offers occasion : 

We hear the birdies singing, 

We hear their glad songs ringing; 
We see the fruit trees blow ; 

We hear the small bees humming ; 

We hear the beetle [chafer] drumming ; 
The clouds above us go — 

Let us too be going. 

To pasture flocks are going ; 
The meadows green are growing ; 
And all things joy are showing ; 
So let us too be going ! * 

* The preceding song was composed as it proceeded from life. 
H. Langethal, to whom the words were afterward communicated, 



.MOVEMENT PLAYS. 249 

Not merely for a change, but in order to guide the 
child yet more to the notice of surrounding things, to the 
perception of the increased feeling of life in his own 

took up the song, for the easier singing and comprehension of 
the children in regular stanzas, with a concluding extension as 
follows : 

We all like well to wander 

From one place to another ; 

This wandering suits us well to-day, 

For all things in the world look gay. 
Wander, yes, wander ! 

We see the trees now blowing, 
White clouds above us going ; 
We hear the birdies singing. 
We hear their glad song ringing. 
Wander, yes, wander ! 

See flocks to pasture going ! 
The meadows green are growing, 
We hear the beetles drumming, 
Bees busily are humming. 
Wander, yes, wander ! 

The children now hear daily 
The brooklets rushing gayly ; 
Where'er our footsteps lead us, 
There Nature's beauties feed us. 
Wander, yes, wander ! 

[Note by the Editor. — The German word wandern means, to 
stroll, to ramble, to take a walk, to go on a journey, to travel, and 
also simply to move or change place, or to go. The English word 
wander has in it a sense of aimlessness, or else that of vain and in- 
effectual seeking for some object or goal. This makes it necessary 
to translate the word wandern in Froebel's remarks about the trav- 
eling or journeying games sometimes by one and sometimes by an- 
other equivalent, but very rarely by our word wander.'\ 
19 



250 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

breast, and for the fostering of human childlike feeling, 
the following words may also be sung : 

Journeying, traveling, 

Gives us joy too great to tell ; 

Makes our breasts with pleasure swell. 

Merry we, and safe from harm, 
With our dear ones arm in arm. 

Many good things now we know, 

Pretty things we've named also ; *^- 

Now a resting place choose well ; 

We of all these things will tell. 

According to the words of the song, when the place of 
rest is reached questions are asked concerning what each 
of the children has particularly remarked and retained in 
its memory, and praise is awarded to most acute obser- 
vation. 

But these walkings or journeys can also take place 
as — 

3. Walking plays with a great number of children in 
a relatively small space, as was shown by Principal Jeckel 
in Frankfort-on-the-Main, suggested by our smaller walk- 
ing play ; where they performed a walking play in which 
several hundred children joined by fours, with a suitable 
gay song, in a spacious school garden. 

Our children in Blankenburg play this game in their 
large playroom as well as in the open air, with great 
willingness and delight. I think, therefore, always with 
gratitude of the one who made us acquainted with it, and 
especially who presented us with the suitable song. 

But walking and journeyings are very often connect- 
ed with visiting ; visiting, again, is connected with social 
calls ; this has given rise in our circle to 



• MOVEMENT PLAYS. 251 

4. Visiting Play^ or Going to Make Calls, 

which, as will readily be perceived, is a progressive de- 
velopment from the walking, and embodies the same 
spirit. 

The children stand opposite to each other, and accord- 
ing to their number are arranged either against two or 
four of the walls of the playroom. 

Two of the rows, which thus stand opposite to one 
another, now sing : 

Those whom opposite we see 
Come to yisit you and me : 

and while they sing they approach each other, so that at 
the end of the rhyme they meet in the middle of the 
room. 

One of the two rows, now standing closely opposite to 
one another, sings, while bowing to the other : 

We greet you all — we greet you all. 

The second row answers : 

We thank you all — we thank you all. 

The two rows now unite to form a double line, and, 
turning toward the play-leader, sing : 

Come, let us all go walking ; we 
So many pretty things will see ; 
In our stories we will tell 
What we see and love so well. 

While the song is sung the column of children moves 
toward one corner of the room, bends there and moves 
along the side of the wall until opposite a second corner, 
then turning, walks first toward the middle of the room 
and next to the third corner. When this corner is 
reached the column bends again and moves along the 



252 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

second wall until the fourth corner is reached, from 
which point it diverges again toward the middle of the 
room. Here the children remain standing in their origi- 
nal order after having formed in their journey a figure 
eight in a horizontal position (oo ). 

The leader (or whoever else may wish to do so) now 
goes to each child and asks what he has seen in his 
journeys. The children may describe either what they 
have actually seen, or something they " make-believe " 
to have seen. 

The questioner connects the different objects named 
by means of an impromptu story in which all bear 
some part. This story should both give the child pleas- 
ure and convey some helpful conception of Nature or 
human life. 

Whenever the story-teller mentions an object which 
one of the children has seen, or made believe to see, dur- 
ing the walking in room or garden, this child must raise 
his hand partly as a sign that he is giving his attention 
to the story, and partly that the story-teller may be sure 
not to omit the mention of any object. 

At the close of the story the travelers sing to the 
story-teller : 

For your story now we pay 
Hearty thanks to you to-day. 

While the children sing, the double column separates 
into two lines which face each other. Each line then 
moves backward to its original place, singing : 

We now go back and take our place ; 
Please turn to us again each face. 

If there are four lines, or, rather, two double columns 
of children, the second column now begins the play. If, 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 253 

as has generally been the case in my experience, the chil- 
dren enjoy the play and wish to repeat it, they should be 
permitted to do so. 

The sources of the children's delight in this game are 
manifold. The song itself is pretty; the children loye 
to greet each other ; finally, there is a fascination in the 
winding movement, with its varied suggestion of the re- 
lationship between center and circumference. For the 
same reason, perhaps — 

5. The Winding Brooh 

was one of the first movement and traveling games de- 
veloped by our circle of children, with whom, moreover, 
it was always a prime favorite. 

The children stand side by side in a large circle. They 
hold each other's hands. The leader breaks the circle at 
a point near one corner of the room, and by a series of 
winding movements parallel to the shorter sides of the 
room leads the children first toward the inside of the cir- 
cle and then outward toward the wall opposite. As the 
first child follows the leader, so each successive child fol- 
lows his neighbor. When the winding line has thus 
reached the opposite narrower side, it turns, going along 
one of the long sides back to the starting point, and this 
is repeated as often as the duration of the song requires. 
To this the following song is sung, partly by full chorus, 
partly more softly by a single voice : 

Chorus : Side by side now, fast or slow, 

Winding like a brook we go. 
Single : By the brook the flowers blow, 

Gayly past them we all go. 
Chorus : Side by side now, fast or slow, etc. 
Single : In the watery mirror see, 

Clearly showing hill and tree. 



254 PEDAGOGICS OP THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Chorus : Side by side now, fast or slow, etc. 
Single : Mirrored in our hearts, too, shows 

Love that toward us ever goes. 
Chorus : Side by side now, fast or slow, etc. 
Single : Filled with thanks and great delight 

Are our hearts ; our eyes are bright. 
Chorus : Side by side now, fast or slow, etc. 
Single : Oh, how happy are we all 

Here together, large and small ! 
Chorus : Side by side now, fast or slow, etc. 
Single : Now we turn in circle gay, 
a. Singing in our childish way, 
h. Singing in another way. 

As the final chorus is begun, the play-leader tries to 
lead the merry band of children so that with the begin- 
ning of the last stanza, " Now we turn in circle gay," all 
the children move in a well-arranged large circle. The 
conclusion " a " is sung when the play is here ended ; the 
conclusion " ^," on the contrary, when a new play is con- 
nected with it. 

This brook play forms the transition from the pure 
journeying plays to those which through form or move- 
ment represent some object; hence to the branch of 
movement plays called — 

B. REPEESEiq^TATION PlAYS. 

One of the favorite plays which very early budded and 
developed in our play-circle is — 

1. Tlie S7iail 

The children stand, side by side and hand in hand as 
before, in a large circle ; they also like very much to play 
this as a continuation of the brook, in which case the 
strophe " J " is sung at the end of the latter. 

The play-leader now takes the hand of one child in 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 255 

the circle at any point lie thinks best, breaks the circle, 
and leads this child, whom the rest easily follow, firmly 
clasping each other's hands, always round the inner side 
of the circle till he has formed in his course a snail line, 
or rather a spiral line, and stands in the middle with all 
the children wound round him. Then, turning backward 
himself, and going first of all between his own and the 
next line of children, he tries to unwind from the inside, 
which is also easily done if, firstly, the children hold firmly 
together, and, secondly, if the snail line is not too closely 
wound. To this the children sing : 

THE SNAIL SONG. 

Hand in hand, as all can see, 
Like a little snail go we ; 

Always nearer, always nearer ; 

Always closer, always closer ; 

Always tighter, always tighter — 
Till in closest union stand 
All we children, hand in hand. 

At these words the play-leader should stand exactly 
in the middle of the circle. If the circle of children is 
large, the lines " Always tighter, always tighter " must be 
repeated until the winding is complete and the central 
point attained. 

When the play -leader has come into the middle of the 
circle, he turns immediately as above described, and the 
following words are sung : 

Hand in hand, as all can see. 
Like a little snail go we ; 

Always farther, always farther; 

Always wider, always wider ; 

Always looser, always looser — 
From the smallest point we go. 
Till the large ring we can show. 



256 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

With these words all the children should again be 
standing in a closed circle, and the following lines may 
then be sung : 

Gayly we each other greet, 
Thus our play we now complete. 

The snail game frequently and fittingly forms the 
conclusion of the circle plays. It is well adapted to this 
purpose, since it unites all the children in one whole of 
living activity, and finally yields the form of the circle, 
which is symbolic of wholeness. 

As an evolution from the actual play of the children 
this game had its point of departure in the swinging of 
the ball attached to a string around the forefinger in such 
a way that the ball moves in a snail line, and, gradually 
approaching the finger, finally rests against it. It is then 
unwound by a reverse movement from the finger, and 
finally by its own recoiling activity wound again around 
it. In Nature the child sees the form of these winding 
lines on the snail shells he so dearly loves. These visible 
lines interpret the words of the song, "Always nearer* 
always closer," also the "Always farther, always wider," 
and help the child in feeling to connect movement and 
form. 

Enough has been said to show plainly the spirit and 
aim of these plays. Their object is to lead the child to 
observation and apprehension of the life that surrounds 
him. I suggest, in addition, a few representative move- 
ment plays which in experience proceeded freely from the 
inmost life and needs (if I may so express myself) of very 
little children. Who has not noticed how children love 
to turn themselves around a smooth tree or pole while 
clasping it with one hand or clinging to it with one arm ? 
From this practice was developed the following play. On 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 257 

account of the size of our playroom, a slender column 
stands in the middle to support the ceiling. This column 
exercised a magnetic attraction upon the children. One 
after another would rush to it, embrace it with his little 
arms, and swing himself around it with shouts of pleasure. 
As this merry play soon attracted all the children, it be- 
came necessary to introduce a certain order into it, and so 
resulted the following — 

2. Mill Play. 

Six or eight children place their right hands on the 
smooth column and try to hold fast by it. This feat is 
easily accomplished in spite of the small size of their 
hands. The left hand of each of these children is grasped 
by a second child, and the left hands of this second row 
of children by a third row, and so on, according to the 
number of the children and the size of the room. In this 
manner, proceeding from the column as center, are formed 
six or eight lines, each consisting of three or four children. 
The whole gives the effect of rays^ or- looks like the spokes 
of a wheel. The children should be so grouped that the 
members of each concentric circle are of equal strength 
and size. The smallest children should be placed either 
in the first or the last row, in order that the length of 
stride and quickness of movement may be proportioned 
to their strength. If the smallest children stand in the 
outermost circle, and if besides the leader there are pres- 
ent several grown persons, each of these takes the hand of 
one of the weaker and more delicate children, and thus 
determines the speed of movement, which in the begin- 
ning must of course be very slow. Even the smallest 
children, however, show great agility in this play ; hence 
the speed is soon accelerated. The leader and other adults 



258 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

must, however, watch the children individually and col- 
lectively, and must see to it that the movement is uniform, 
and that the order of the children is not disturbed. 

As the children move around the column, the follow- 
ing lines are sung : 

The old mill wheel is never still 

If strongly the clear water flows ; 
And our mill wheel turns with a will 

The way that our own pleasure shows. 

In this song the whole figure produced by the children 
is represented as the wheel of a water mill, and the child 
is led to the perception of the moving power in himself 
and in the water, and to a comparison of these powers — 
i. e., of the desire which impels his own activity, and the 
force of the water which turns the mill wheel. 

In Mr. Hochstadter's kindergarten, at Frankfort-on- 
the-Main, the whole was looked on as the wings of a wind- 
mill, and the first four verses of the following song were 
adapted to it, to which the four lines here following were 
added : 

See the windmill how it goes ! 

As the wind so strongly blows, 

Always round it turns ; it will 

) Never idly stand quite still. 

Our strong wind is our own fun, 

So we swiftly, swiftly run. 

Quickly thus the time goes by ; 

Oh, how happy now am I ! 

Our children like very much to sing this song also on 
account of its appropriateness. The comparison of the 
power of Nature and of the mind, and the interpretation 
of the one by the other, go through this play also. 

In this same kindergarten at Frankfort the following 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 259 

verses were afterward added, from the children's percep- 
tions of life : 

Quickly sails the ship along, 

Driven by the winds so strong. 

If a stormy wind should blow, 

Then aground the ship might go. 

This closing of the play is also appropriate, because it 
leads the child's attention to the disturbing effect of a 
too vigorous movement in this play. 

This game may also be played in a room without a 
pillar, and also in the open air. The play-leader fastens 
around his waist a piece of cloth or strong string, twisted 
several times, which is grasped by the children standing 
nearest, and they then turn at the same time with him. 
In the open air this play is particularly beautiful, if a 
smooth-barked, full-crowned tree is found for it. 

When the movement has been executed once to the 
right, it is also carried out by turning to the left. (For 
a change, and in consideration of the small children, 
the short triple step may be taken instead of the longer 
stride.) 

This representative play proceeded from girl-life. As 
a complement to it I give another, which owed its existence 
to boy-life ; this is — 

3. The Wheel 

Four, fivCj or six children, with their faces turned 
toward the middle of the circle, take each other's hands. 
At the place where two of the children, thus standing in 
a circle, have joined hands, another steps up from the 
other side, who grasps their joined hands with one of his 
and stretches the other outward like a ray. A second 
child in like manner grasps the hand of this child, so that 



260 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

in this way a four, five, or six rayed star results. Each 
two of these rays are now again connected in a tangential 
direction by two children who have taken hands, so that 
in this way a larger circle results, like the first and parallel 
with it. If there are many children, this can be repeated 
as often as the number of the children permits. When 
the wheel is thus inclosed, the movement begins toward 
the side to which the faces of the children forming the 
rays or spokes are turned. To this is sung : 

See here a wheel we make, 

Which turns itself around ; 
The spokes must all be straight, 

And by the felloes bound. 

Principal Jeckel calls this play a star game, and has 
carried it out with a very large number of children in 
the spacious garden belonging to his school. 

It is very evident, as has already been mentioned, that 
through these plays, and the free and joyous self-expres- 
sion which they involve, the child is led to observe both 
surrounding objects and the phenomena of his own life ; 
that through such observation he is further led to com- 
parison and recognition of the two orders of phenome- 
na, and, finally, to healthful and salutary judgments 
and inferences. The pleasure with which the children 
play these games, and others of a similar kind, may there- 
fore have its ground in a presentiment of what is sym- 
bolic and significant in them. May not their delight in 
these encircling movements, for example, spring from the 
longing and the effort to get an all-round or all-sided 
grasp of an object ? 

Through many considerations, and as the result of 
many and various experiences, I am convinced that the 
exalted and often ecstatic delight of children in their 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 261 

simple movement plays is by no means to be explained 
through the exertion of mere physical force — mere bodily 
activity. The true source of their joy is the dim premo- 
nition which stirs their sensitive hearts (Gemuthe) that 
in their play there is hidden a deep significance; that it is, 
in fact, the husk within which is concealed the kernel of 
living spiritual truth. 

Hence it is that we can not too strongly insist upon 
the thoughtful observation of children's plays — upon their 
nurture and development, and upon their purification 
from all that obscures or is foreign to their ideal content. 
Through the exclusion of foreign elements the immanent 
ideal of the play — which is what really stirs the soul of 
the susceptible child — will become more powerful in its 
influence. I am convinced that in this way we may not 
only arouse and illuminate the ethical feeling of the child, 
but also strengthen it and elevate it into practical activity ; 
and, finally, that this practical moral activity will recoil 
with blessed effect upon the nurture and development of 
religious aspiration. 

In the presentation of these plays I have purposely 
followed their historic genesis and evolution in our own 
circle of children. My object in this historic presentation 
has been to show how, through holding in my own mind 
the fundamental idea and characteristic essence of these 
plays, I have been enabled to follow with fostering influ- 
ence the absolutely free development of the child, and to 
respond to the indicated needs of his being. Generalizing 
the results of this experience it becomes apparent that, 
through an education which is rooted and grounded in 
the nature of man, which recognizes in that nature the 
one true point of departure for its whole procedure, it is 
possible to combine a fixed adhesion to the universal with 



262 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN 

the most searching and careful nurture of the particular 
and individual. 

f To the representative circular movement plays belong 
also — 

4. The Circle, Star, Flower mid Crown Play. 

The children form a large circle. The leader quietly 
arranges it so that the more advanced children are dis- 
tributed in the four quarters of this circle. These quar- 
ters (of the circle) are then pointed out by the leader, 
and the advanced child in each quarter is asked to watch 
over the development of the play in his or her quarter, 
and to preserve order. The whole circle moves round 
first to the right, afterwards to the left, singing : 

Side by side now, fast or slow, 
In a large round ring we go ; 
While around our circle going. 
Prom our lips gay songs are flowing. 
'Tis as pleasant, we soon learn, 
In the smaller rings to turn. 
And to sing out soft and gay — 
That is happy children's way. 

At the conclusion of the words " 'Tis as pleasant, we 
soon learn," the play-leader claps his hands, and each of 
the four quarters of the circle forms immediately a smaller 
circle of its own, which is closed at the words " In the 
smaller rings to turn " ; and now each of the smaller circles 
turns round to the right ; at the repetition of the verse 
" 'Tis as pleasant, we soon learn," each circle turns round 
to the left. 

Again the play-leader claps his hands. All the chil- 
dren in each circle stretch the right hand into the middle 
of the circle, reach out the left in ray form toward the 
outside, turn to the right, and sing : 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 263 

Now we have formed a star, 

Now we have formed a star, 

Clear shining, though so far ; 

Our parents love [father, mother loves] the star. 

Or, generally, 

Who does not love the star f 

The play-leader claps again, all the children in each 
circle stretch the left hand into the middle of it, and the 
circle now moves to the left, singing the former song. 

The play-leader claps again, each of the children in 
each circle lays its right arm over the left, the right hand 
turned inward above, the left turned inward below, so that 
the opposite hand may be easily grasped by two neighbor- 
ing children ; when this is done, the children of each circle 
turn round to the right and sing : 

Our flower's form complete must be, 
As those we in the garden see. 
Which with their glances bright 
The gardener delight. 

Again the play-leader claps, the children lay the left 
hand over the right (the left turned inward above, the 
right below), then clasp hands, turn round to the left, and 
sing as before. At the conclusion of the song the play- 
leader claps again, the children drop each other's hands 
and raise their arms, the palm of the hand turned out- 
ward. Each two neighboring children lay their opposite 
palms firmly against one another, so that the whole forms 
a crown with alternating points. The children turn to 
the right and sing : 

Great pains we now are taking. 

Crowns for our parents making ; 

We try to make them right. 

Our parents to delight. 



264 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEJI. 

The play-leader claps again, and the children turn to 
the left. 

Again he claps. Each of the children lets his or her 
hands fall on the shoulders of his or her two neighbors. 
With this they turn and sing : 

We have formed a garland gay 

Which completes our little play ; 

Lovingly we thus were bound 

As happily we turned around. 

Let us now, the selfsame way, 

Turn in circle large and gay ; 

Clear and loud our merry singing 

From the echo back is ringing. 

Though both star and wreath have vanished, 

From our circle none are banished. 

At the words "Let us now, the selfsame way," the 
play-leader claps, and the four circles open in the places 
turned toward the middle of the room. From this point 
each circle swings or goes backward in the two opposite 
directions outward, so that the four smaller circles now 
again stand in the large circle as in the beginning of the 
play. Here the children standing by one another (who are 
as yet separate) take hands immediately, and at the words 
" Turn in circle large and gay " the whole circle turns 
round to the right. After the concluding words the circle 
dissolves. Each child gives his right hand to his two 
neighbors. 

These four representations — circle, star, flower, and 
crown — are considered and treated in a composite and 
connected play ; but with quite small children, each may 
be played by itself as a single game, and several times re- 
peated, though the intermediate children like very much 
to play it as a coherent whole. 

The nature and spirit of this play are plain — viz., that 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 265 

the children are to be led by it to the observation of 
Nature, of their own life, of the movements of their 
hearts and of their childlike human feelings, and to the 
fostering of these as of their thoughtful child life in 
general. 

From these plays develop— 

C. The Kukkikg Plats. 

The child seeks to exercise his ever-increasing power 
of walking, and to measure his strength with that of 
others ; the pure running plays, the outrunning and over- 
taking plays, are the first plays of the completely devel- 
oped power of movement. The play with his ball incites 
the child to movement games, and gives him an oppor- 
tunity to practice them. The little ball escapes from the 
child's hand ; it runs away, and the child tries to overtake 
it, to reach it by running after it. But the pure running 
plays are also developed from the play itself. Up to this 
time — 

1. The Racing Game 

is the prime favorite with our children. It is played in 
the open air, on the playground, and on the sufficiently 
broad garden paths, as well as in the spacious playroom. 

This racing ground is a large, quadrangular course, 
which incloses the beds and gardens of the children as 
the frame incloses a slate. 

The V3hildren are arranged by twos, as nearly as pos- 
sible according to equal size, strength, and dexterity. 

Each pair of children step in turn before the play- 
leader into the course in the middle of one of the broad 
sides, back to back. The play-leader and the remaining 

children sing : 
20 



266 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Children, your limbs move now — 
Run ! Your swiftness prove now. 
Run now — run now faster, 
Faster still, and faster ! 

At the word " run " the leader claps his hands, and the 
children, using all their power, run in opposite directions. 
At the point opposite from the starting place the runners 
pass each other, and each of them tries to reach first the 
opened arms of the play-leader. 

Upon the second repetition of the race two of those 
who have won the prize in the former race go first into 
the course. Even this very simple movement game is 
played by the children with great pleasure. 

Other running plays will be mentioned when we reach 
the point whence they proceeded, as it were, from the life 
of the children with their gifts. 

Hitherto the position of the hody and the movement 
of the limhs have not been restricted, hut both of these 
can be considered in simple walking. This gives — 

D. The Puke Walking Games. 

Be it said, by the way, that the name wallcing games 
(since girls also share them) is much more appropriate 
than the foreign designation of " marching." 

1. The Simple Wallcing Game. 

This can be done in a single row as well as in a double 
row by children standing in pairs ; the latter is easier for 
the children, and they like it better. 

A good deal of discretion can be used in the arrange- 
ment of the children. Either a larger child can be placed 
with each smaller one, or children of like size can be put 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 267 

together, and then again either the largest or the smallest 
children may be permitted to take precedence. The room, 
playground, or garden is then traversed in various straight 
and curved, circular and winding movements, to which 
the following words are sung : 

Step by step now let us go, 

Equal paces take also. 

Not to right nor left we turn ; 

To keep the knees straight, we must learn. 

Upright must the body be, 

Head and chest and leg and knee ; 

Turning out the feet must be. 

And the arms be hanging free. 

Not too near nor far away 

From his neighbor, may one stray. 

How glad are we, as two by two 

We march with measured step and true ! 

Or the play may be accompanied by the simple little 
song composed by the before-mentioned Herr Langethal : 

We move in equal spaces. 
And all make equal paces, 
La, la, la, etc. 

This walking play always gives the children great 
pleasure. 

In changing the play and the room, the children, who 
are going in pairs behind one another, merely sing : 

Breast to back now, that's well ; so 
To our playing let us go. 

That disorder and rough disturbing willfulness may 
never enter, it is a good plan, wherever it is possible, to 
accompany each change in the play by rhyme and song ; 
so that the latent sense of rhythm and song, and, above all, 
the sense of order in the human being and child, may be 



268 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

aroused and strengthened to an impulse for social co- 
operation. 

.With the simple walking plays may be sung simple 
melodies without words. Such melodies are especially 
adapted to the longer walks taken out of doors, when 
such walks are over level paths. 

2. Circular Walking Game. 

The walking plays, which take place around a circle, 
are always more difficult than those in which the move- 
ment is straightforward, because the feet have to be set 
sidewise. It is therefore well to practice the latter first, 
and to use them oftenest, especially with very small chil- 
dren. Nevertheless, it is noticeable that circular position 
and circular movement seem to have a special attraction 
for the smallest children. Therefore it is well to com- 
bine the two forms of play by allowing the children to 
move around a circle ; only, instead of moving sidewise, 
to walk one behind the other, singing : 

Breast to back now, that's well, so ; 
In the circle let us go. 

In the specific circling games the children stand, not 
breast to back but side by side and hand in hand. When 
the object is to direct attention to the circle itself, the 
children sing : 

Merrily now, side by side. 
In a circle round we glide. 

If, however, attention is to be directed in part and 
prominently to the turning out of the feet, the children 

sing: 

Feet turned outward, that's fine, so ; 
Gayly in a ring we go. 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 269 

For the movement plays thus far considered the freely 
moving ball has furnished incitement and type. The ball 
attached to a string gives the incitement and point of de- 
parture for another series of plays. To illustrate : The 
children stand in an orderly circle around the leader ; 
the leader reaches the ball (fastened to its string) to any 
one of the children ; he himself retains firm hold of the 
string ; he pulls the string slowly, the ball escapes from 
the child's hand and swings rhythmically here and there 
before him. The leader gives words to this phenome- 
non by singing : 

The Uttle ball moves easily, 

There, here — there, here — there, here. 

He now either asks the child from whose hand he lets 
the ball escape, " Will you also do what I have done?" or, 
generally, " Who will try to do as I have done ? " 

Usually several children come forward, and, decided 
by good reasons, he chooses one of them, places him in 
the middle of the circle of children, lets him make the 
swinging movement with the ball, and at the same time 
sing twice the above-quoted words. 

The first time this game was played I noticed that the 
movement of the ball seemed to affect the children mag- 
netically. As the ball moved, many of them moved also, 
bending first on one side, then on the other. Afterward 
this happened again. The movement of the children was 
immediately given a rhythmic form, and thus arose a 
whole series of movement plays proceeding from the ball, 
which aim at the definite training of the body and its in- 
dividual members. 



270 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 



Movement Plats proceeding from the Ball on 
THE String, which have iis" view at the same 
Time an Exact Training of the Body and 
Limbs. 

A. Swinging Movement Plays. 

As soon as the ball, which has been swung by the child 
standing in the raiddle of the circle, has ceased to move, 
the general impulse of the children to move likewise is 
greeted by the following song : 

We too can move lightly 
Here and there, here and there. 

Accompanying the song, the children move their bodies 
lightly from one side to the other. As they sing the word 
" we " they rest firmly on the left foot and slightly raise the 
right ; with the next syllable they rest upon the right foot 
and raise the left. This rhythmic alternation occasions a 
slightly waving movement of the upper part of the body. 
Manifestly the rhythmic alternation may proceed from the 
right foot to the left, as well as from left to right, and 
thus produce a waving movement in a direction opposite 
to the one already described. 

This waving movement, when continuous and uniform, 
not only delights the children but has a very pleasing 
effect, resembling a field of grain moved by the wind. It 
is of course understood that the leader watches the circle 
and sees that it is kept in good order. Each member of 
the circle should have a chance to lead, for it is especially 
developing to a child to recognize himself on the one hand 
in his own independent activity, and on the other as the 
member of a well-ordered totality. 

To stand in the middle of the circle and freely swing 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 271 

the ball gives the children great delight, and I am firmly 
convinced that it is important for the welfare and develop- 
ment of the child that this delight should be fostered. 
Hence I am of the opinion that this game should be re- 
peated often enough to allow each of the participating 
children to act as leader. 

When the circle is a large one, however, it becomes 
necessary to introduce another movement to alternate with 
the rocking movement of the whole body. The most 
obvious movement which suggests itself is the swinging 
of the arms, and, primarily, the swinging of one arm alone, 
beginning naturally with the right arm. 

Thus, when the child in the middle of the circle has 
swung his ball after the fashion of a pendulum, each child 
in the circle may swing his right arm, accompanying the 
movement with the words : 

My arm is lightly swinging 
Here and there, here and there. 

According to the feeling of the children, either these 
two lines or only the last line may be repeated twice. 

Instead of the words " here and there," may be sung 
the words "front," "back." 

In order that the play may have a developing effect 
upon the children, it is important that there should be 
harmony of action. Hence care must be taken that the 
motion of the arm is the same at each repetition of the 
words. Thus, with the words " front," or " here," the arm 
should be swung toward the center of the circle ; with the 
word " back " or the word " there " it should be swung 
toward the circumference of the circle. 

Only through this harmony of word and movement 
can the true life and spirit of this play work freely and 
effectively, and exert its fostering influence. 



272 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

After repeating the movement with the right arm from 
four to six times, it should be carried out with the left 
arm, to the accompaniment of the words — 

My left arm now is swinging, etc. 

Next, both arms may be swung, and this in several 
different ways. 

First. With both arms parallel to the sides, and here 
again — a. Both arms may be swung at the same time and 
in the same direction ; or, t). The two arms may be swung 
alternately and in opposite directions, to the song ; 

Both arms I swing lightly, 
Front and back, front and back. 

Second. Both arms may be parallel to the breast, and 
here again — a. Both arms may be swung at the same time 
and in the same direction ; or, b. The two arms may be 
swung alternately and in opposite directions. 

Simultaneous movements may also be executed by the 
children standing with intertwined arms, around the circle. 

Similar movements may be made with the legs, though 
they naturally admit of less variety. Thus : 

The right leg here and there, or front and back ; left 
leg moved in same manner; right leg sideways to the 
right ; left leg sideways to the left. 

For a change may be sung the words— 



Or- 



Happy and successful I always shall be, 
Swinging my arms [legs] like the pendulum free. 

My arm swings quickly to and fro, 
And like the pendulum doth go. 



If exercise of the hip joints seem desirable, the trunk 
may be moved in the same way while the lower part is 
held firm, singing : 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 273 

I bend my body, too, 

Front and back, front and back. 

To make the swinging of the ball and the swinging of 
the arms points of departure for the perception of living 
Nature, and in order to give more precision to the obser- 
vation of nature, the following words by Langethal may 
be sung as an interpretation of the movements already 
described : 

When they like wind-blown twigs appear. 
Well pleased are then the children dear, etc. 

If the number of the children is not too large, the 
leader may call each child singly into the circle, grasp it 
under the arms, and, lifting it, allow the closed legs to 
swing to and fro while the trunk remains quiescent. Suit- 
able words will of course accompany this exercise. 

This play will be a pleasant rest for the children if 
they have previously been playing very active games. 

When the ball is vigorously swung toward either of the 
two sides, it swings also wholly around itself, or in a circle 
around the finger tips which are holding the string fast. 
This circling movement of the ball on the string swung 
by the finger tips of the right hand now gives rise to a 
whole series of circling and turning child plays. 

B. Circling and Turning Movement Plays proceeding 
from the Ball. 

The child, standing in the middle of the play circle, 
connects again with his earlier play with the ball, by sing- 
ing while at the same time swinging the ball : 

My little ball moves easily 
There, here— there, here— there, here — 
And then it swings around. ' 1 



274 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

The children standing in the circle then move, rock- 
ing from one foot to the other [or, in other words, poising 
themselves first on one foot and then on the other], as 
aboye stated, and sing : 

And we like to move easily, 
There, here — there, here — there, here — 
And then we move around. 

With these latter words the whole circle goes round 
either to the right or left. 

Each time, after all the children have turned in the 
circle, another child steps into the middle of the circle 
and swings the ball. 

Just as all the children turned in a circle, so may each 
child turn one of its limbs in a circle. Thus the child 
standing in the middle can sing and show — 

My little ball, etc., 

And then it swings around. 

Upon this, all the children in the circle sing : 

My arm, too, can, etc., 
And then it swings around. 

The arm hanging vertically can now be swung either 
from behind toward the front or vice versa. 

As with the right arm, so with the left ; and as with 
the arms, so with the legs. With the swinging of the legs 
the resulting circle is, of course, horizontal, as that with 
the swinging of the arms is vertical. 

With the circling swinging of the arms may also be 
sung for a change : 

As the wind turns the sails of the mill, 
So my arm turns when moved by my will. 

This movement may also be used as a windmill play. 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 275 

One of the children steps into the middle of the circle, 
swinging its arm round, and singing : 

When fresh and strong the wind blows, 
Around with speed my mill goes. 
Though small the mill may be, 
It grinds fine meal for me. 

The circle of players then turn around the child in 
the middle, and sing : 

Because the miller good meal made, 
Our thanks to him shall now be paid. 

Another child now steps forward, and sings : 

Please let me grind as well as you, 
And then to me thanks will be due. 

The song begins again : 

When fresh and strong the wind blows, etc. 

All the children may turn their arms at the same time. 
To do this they must stand at a suitable distance from 
each other, and hence form a considerably enlarged circle. 
The following words may be sung : 

The mill stands high on the windmill hill ; 
The strong wind blows it — it stands not still ; 
The people bring the grain to the mill, 
Which grinds it to meal, the bags to fill ; 
The baker bakes it — he has great skill. 
And little children eat with a will. 

The many-sided developing influence of this play may 
be plainly seen. The final form of the game can be played 
as the conclusion of the whole series of exercises, and after 
several children have individually represented the mill. 

With the circling movement of the legs and feet, the 
ball on the string is to be swung so that it describes a 
horizontal circle : 



276 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

i 

Round and round quickly my feet I can swing, 
And, like the ball, I can make a round ring. 

With the circling movement of the ball on the string 
(especially when played in the circle), attention may be 
called to the fact that one side of the ball looks toward 
the middle, or that it always points out the middle by its 
string. The child who turns the ball by the string, with 
constant attention to its action, sings : 

As the ball goes high and low, 
It always does the middle show. 

This indication now again points to a new series of 
pure movement plays. All the children of the circle raise 
the right arm to a horizontal position, point with it to the 
middle, and, turning in a circle, sing : 

Round and round now as we go, 
We, pointing, do the middle show. 

What was at first done with the right arm is now done 
with the left. 

Now the children let their arms sink, turn all their faces 
toward the middle of the circle, turn themselves, and sing : 

In a circle now turn we. 
And always do the middle see. 

Especial care must here be taken that the circle is a 
perfect one. The children will themselves notice that the 
more perfect the circle, the more clearly can the middle 
be seen and the more precisely can they point to it. This 
is also brought forward by the song : 

If now the ring is wholly round, 
The middle easily is found. 

When this is clearly recognized by the playing children 
the leader asks : " Can any one now show me the middle ? 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 277 

Can any one step into the middle?" A many- voiced 
" Yes ! " will certainly follow. 

The leader now begins with the child who he thinks 
has best understood what he has asked, and says, turning 

to him : 

Dear one, I pray thee 
The center to show me. 

The leader then conducts the child as slowly as pos- 
sible to the exact middle of the circle, lets him stand there 
a few seconds, and then leads him back, singing : 

Our order you fulfilled with grace, 
Now step back to your former place. 

In this manner the leader conducts each child in the 
circle to the middle and back again. We saw this play 
carried out more than three years ago in several institu- 
tions with quite young children, and always to their de- 
light. It may also be mentioned that this play was in 
one case spontaneously originated by the children of such 
an institution. Langethal, to whom this fact was com- 
municated, has developed the play and written the follow- 
ing words : 

Dear one, I beg thee 

The middle to show me ; 

Then we shall know 

How we should go. 

If while turning in the circle there is any disorder or 
any deviation from the curve, etc., it is the duty of the 
child who stands in the middle to call attention to this 
deviation by raising his arm toward the side of the circle 
where the disorder exists. If the child fails to do this, 
the circle has the right to make him attend to his duty, 

by singing : 

Would you in the middle stay f 
You must order keep alway. 



278 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

This reciprocal effect of center and circumference 
upon each other have aroused great interest whenever 
the play has been repeated, and the circle has always 
joyfully submitted to the decision of the little leader, 
although small cases of disorder have been purposely in- 
cited in order to test the attention of the leader. 

From this play is now developed " Child, turn thee," 
a play which, therefore, should follow those above de- 
scribed, and which, just because it has by degrees pro- 
ceeded from child life, is very willingly played by the 
children. 

The children arrange themselves according to their 
number in three, four, and even more circles of six or at 
the most of eight children. Children of different sizes 
must stand in each circle, so that the smaller ones may be 
joined with the larger. The circles must be so disposed 
in the playroom that, considered together, they again 
form a whole circle. 

The largest child in each circle is the leader of that 
circle ; the general leader of all the circles stands in the 
middle, so that the movements in all the circles take place 
simultaneously. Particular and general are beautifully 
brought together, and, as it were, reciprocally join hands 
for united and clear representation; for the very spirit 
and character of my plays demand that the child act with 
the fullest and purest demonstration of his individual life, 
and at the same time in accord and harmony with, in 
respect for and with acknowledgment of the whole and 
its requirements. Without fidelity to this higher spirit of 
play and life which can actually show itself even with ten 
or twelve children, the plays would lose their significance 
for mind and heart. 

The children, arranged as described, turn and sing at 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 279 

the same time in the different circles at a sign from the 
plaj-leader : 

We stand here hand in hand, and sing, 

And wish to turn round in a ring ; 

But first we would the middle know : 

To the child who will it show, 

Our hearty thanks shall surely go. 

The child who offers himself for this position, or any 
child the leader chooses, is now placed exactly in the mid- 
dle of the well-formed circle, and the children in the cir- 
cle bow toward the middle, and sing : 

We bow to you, we bow to you. 

We bow to you. 
And while your little song you sing. 
We'll join, and move round in a ring. 

The child standing in the middle claps its hands, and 
sings (the rest softly accompanying it) : 

Around, around, in ring around, in ring around, 
Always around, yes, always around. 

IJpon this, the circle turns to the right. 

At the end of the song the child claps his hands again, 
and the circle turns to the left, to the accompaniment of 
the same song. 

After the conclusion of the song the child claps again, 
the circle stands still, and sings in chorus : 

Now, all standing still, will we 
Your smooth dancing like to see ; 
We to you a song will sing, 
While you dance in this round ring. 

The children in the circle now clap their hands and 
sing while the child turns exactly in the middle of the 
circle, and as nearly as possible upon his own axis. 



280 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

For small children this spinning movement is difficult, 
BO the leader may enter the circle with the child and ex- 
tend to the latter the middle finger of her right hand. 
Holding the leader's finger, the child easily turns like a 
wheel about its axle. 

When the song is completed, the children standing in 
the circle clap their hands, whereupon the child in the 
center spins around, beginning toward the left instead of 
toward the right. The game is repeated until all the 
children have had the chance to spin. 

The reciprocal activity of the individual and the whole 
circle is also marked in this game, for which reason it is a 
favorite for children. 

At the close of this whole series of games the several 
small circles are again merged in the one large circle from 
which they were previously formed. In this way the par- 
ticular, the individual, and the universal are shown in 
gradation and harmony. Through experiences of this 
kind the child is prepared to recognize the relationship 
of particular and universal in nature and in life, and 
finally to realize the significance of these relationships in 
the structure of the universe. 

Among the most important experiences of life for the 
child, as for the adult, must be reckoned the experience 
that in the process of development from each given object 
is evolved its antithesis. The manner of this evolution 
is also most significant. 

To enrich the child with this experience, while he is 
in the age of innocence and purity, should be one chief 
aim of early education. This truth of evolution by an- 
tagonism should therefore be adumbrated in his plays. 
Later, a wise education will lift it into the region of 
clear consciousness and reveal it as a guiding law of life. 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 281 

Happy the child, happy the youth who has been led to 
recognize this weighty truth ! The child educated in this 
way possesses a talisman which secures to him in his im- 
passioned youth not only purity of life, but, what is higher, 
purity of mind and heart. 

Such an experience we offer the children, particularly 
in our circling movement plays. Take for example the 
play " Seeing each other and not seeing each other." The 
children form a circle ; the circle moves around. The fol- 
lowing words (written in part by Langethal) are sung : 

In circle we are winding, 
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, 
Each other's faces finding, 
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, 
Clip-a-clap, clip-a-clap. 
And now the middle showing, 
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, 
Round which the ring is going, 
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. 
This is splendid — 'tis fine, so 
In a ring to go ! 

The circle now divides. The leader turns with his next 
playmate toward the outside and moves in the opposite 
direction from that before pursued, this time with his 
back to the center of the circle — while all the players 
follow him hand in hand, and so by degrees each turning 
from his place backward — close round the circle, accom- 
panying their movements, all the children sing : 

Now turning, we are winding. 
The ends together binding. 

According to the size of the circle, this is to be done 
after ^singing the words once or tivice. As the circle is now 
closed, and the turning has caused all the players to stand 



282 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

with their faces turned outward, the leader, immediately 
followed by the whole circle, begins to sing : 

In circle we are winding, 

La, la, la, la, la, la, la, 

Each other now not finding, 

La, la, la, la, la, la, la, 

Clip-a-clap, clip-a-clap. 

We trust the middle surely, 

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes ; 

So look around securely, 

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. 

This is splendid — 'tis fine, so 

In a ring to go. 

Upon this begins again, as before (but reversed), the 
turning of the face toward the inside, with the words : 
Now, turning, we are winding. 
The ends together binding. 

And now the play can begin anew, as above. 

In order to let the children see, as it were in a mirror, 
their different ways of standing, they may clap the palms 
of their hands together at the beginning, when the faces 
are turned toward one another ; but later, when back is 
turned to back, strike the back of their hands together. 
Such comparisons of position, by aid of touch, are quite 
essential to help the child to clear insight, and must be 
retained whenever presented. In so far as play affords 
this comparison it has a developing, educating, formative 
influence. In the games presented by me this compari- 
son has been employed with clear consciousness of its 
significance. 

The game of " Seeing and not seeing each other '* 
may, if the playroom admits, be played in a second and 
prettier way. 

The game begins as before, with the exception that the 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 



circle is made only large enough to occupy one half of the 
free space of the room («), so that in the other half may 
be formed the second circle (Z*), wherein the children's 
faces are turned toward the outside. Standing in «, the 
children sing, as before : 




In circle we are winding, 
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, 
Each other's faces finding, 
La, la, la, la, la, la, la. 
Clip-a-clap, clip-a-clap. 
And now the middle showing, 
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, 
Round which the ring is going, 
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. 
This is splendid — 'tis fine, so 
In a ring to go. 

The leader opens the circle toward the side J, where 
the second half of the space is as yet free, and moves with 
the rest, following hand in hand, as if she would form a 
circle similar to the first. Turning, however, toward J, 
she moves in such a way that with the second circle now 
to be formed the backs of all are turned toward the mid- 
dle, and their faces toward the outside, so that the whola 
forms a winding line. 




284: PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

While this is going on the players sing : 

Now turning, we are winding, 
The ends together binding. 




Upon this the second circle t is closed, with the faces 
turned outward in the second half of the play-space. The 
circle, turning as above, then sings : 

In circle we are winding, etc., 
Each other now not finding, etc. ; 
We trust the middle surely, etc. ; 
So look around securely, etc. 

Here also applies the previous remark about the different 
ways of clapping the hands. 

The leader opens the circle as before, but toward the 
opposite side, toward a, and forms again a winding line 
in the opposite position to the first, to which the whole 
circle again sings : 

Now turning, we are winding, etc. 
The play then begins anew. The figure, therefore, which 
the movement of the play makes, regarded as a whole, re- 
sembles a horizontal eight. 




Here conclude the movement plays proceeding from 
the ball, and the indications of their significance for the 



MOVEMENT PLAYS. 285 

physical, intellectual, and moral life of the child and of 
the future man. What is omitted here will be beautifully 
supplied by the more definite and sharper movements of 
the sphere, from which the further progression of the 
movement plays proceeds. 



XV. 

HOW LIl^A LEAKNED TO WRITE AlfD READ. 

A Pretty Story for Children who like to ie busy. 

LiKA was a little girl about six years old, who liked to 
employ herself independently. She could accomplish a 
great many things with simple playthings; could build 
many pretty things with cubes and bricks ; and lay many 
pretty things with tablets of different forms and colors, 
and with sticks, etc. She could make many beautiful 
things in yarious ways by putting together colored sticks, 
strips of paper, and other material ; make many objects 
with her little playthings, which were on that account so 
much the dearer to her. 

Lina could also easily catch the ball, and had by this 
means acquired such dexterity and such control of the 
body — such skillful use of her limbs — that she did not 
easily let anything fall, nor awkwardly push it out of 
place. 

Lina also knew many pretty little songs, and could 
sing them. She could accompany many of her little plays 
with songs, which increased her pleasure in the plays, for 
the songs instructed her as to what she was doing, and so 
she did not need to be always disturbing father and mother 
by asking, " What is that ? " " Why is that ? " 

So Lina was always cheerful and active, for she never 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 287 

felt time hang heavily, and so was never ill-humored. On 
the contrary, because she was always contented and cheer- 
ful, she was the special delight of her parents, as well as 
an example for other children who would like to he the 
delight of their parents, and who like to play and are 
happy in lively, orderly activity. 

As Lina, on account of these good qualities, was per- 
mitted to be much with her parents and to play beside 
them, she noticed, one day, that her father was very glad 
to receive a letter, and soon after sent one in reply. Turn- 
ing entreatingly to her mother, who was in the room, she 
said : " Give me a little piece of paper, dear mother, please, 
please ; I want to write a letter too, like dear father." 

" Little children like you, dear Lina," said her mother, 
" can not write like your father, and still less on paper. 
Your little fingers are too weak for skillful holding or 
guiding of a pen or pencil. But I will show you how you 
can lay letters with little sticks, and so, in a certain way, 
write at least as much as you wish to or are able to." So 
spoke the good mother to her little Lina, who went on 
entreating : 

" mother, teach me ! But could other people read 
what I write in that way ? " 

" Let us try at once, my child. I have sticks here at 
hand, and this smooth, dark-colored table just suits our 
purpose; the pure white wooden sticks will look very 
pretty on it." 

" But do you know also, my child," the kind mother 
went on, " that when your father sends a letter he always 
writes his name at the close of it, and on the outside he 
writes the name of the one who is to receive it ? So, my 
child, you must first of all learn to write your name — 
that is, learu to lay it with sticks," 



288 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

" Oh, yes, dear mother, that I will, that I will." 

" Now, what is your name, my child ? " 

" Oh, you know that ; my name is Lina." 

" I know your name indeed," said her mother, " but 
if you wish to write it, or at first lay it with sticks, we 
must listen to it carefully, and give attention to the dif- 
ferences between open and close sounds which we notice 
in it. We must learn to know the signs for these open 
or close sounds, so that we may lay those letters next to 
each other, just as we hear the open and close sounds 
follow one another in your name." 

So said the dear, thoughtfully instructive mother to 
the attentive child, and went on : " Now, little daughter, 
tell me your name again, very slowly and clearly, and 
notice what different sounds you find in it. I will then 
also tell you what I hear." 

The child, eager to learn, now spoke her name slowly 
and clearly — " L-i-n-a." 

" I heard the sounds i and a," said the mother ; " now 
we will try to speak your name once more together, and 
notice whether you hear the same open sounds as I." 

Mother and child now say together : " L-i-n-a, 
L-i-n-a; i — a." 

"I hear the same as you, dear mother," said Lina; 
" the open sounds are i and a." 

" So, in Lina, we hear the open sounds i and a." 

" Now, my child, I will lay this straight stick vertically 
before you," went on the mother, | . " When you see 
it in this position let me hear at once the sound i." The 
mother now again laid the stick several times vertically 
before the child | and the child at once uttered the 
sound i. 

" See," the kind mother now said to the child, " this 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 289 

vertical stick " — pointing to it — " is always the sign for 
the sound i." 

The mother, for practice, now laid the sticks several 
times before her little daughter, who at once said " i." 

" But did we not hear a second open sound in your 
name ? " questioned the mother. 

" Yes, the sound a," answered the child. 

" See," said the mother, " now I lay two sticks here, 
close to each other at the top, and join them by a third 
smaller one in a horizontal direction — A* ; when you 
see this sign let me hear at once the second open sound 
of your name." 

The mother now took away the sign, and laid it again 
repeatedly, and the child uttered the sound every time as 
soon as the sign lay before her. Lina and her mother had 
such a lively, happy time, that it was a pleasure to watch 
them ; for the mother laid now the vertical stick ( | ), 
when the child immediately uttered clearly the sound i, 
for which it was the sign ; now again the three con- 
nected sticks (A), and then the child uttered at once the 
sound a. 

Then they changed : the child laid the sticks and the 
mother gave the sounds. Another time the mother again 
made the sounds, and the child had to lay the right sign 
or letter for each sound. 



* Since it would not be possible, or at least would be very diffi- 
cult, to represent the stick-letters by simple strokes of equal width, 
the Roman capital letters must be here employed to indicate them. 
I must also remark that the round lines in R, P, D, 0, etc., are to 
be laid with slender sticks which have been nipped or indented on 
the inside, in little incisions between the thumb nail and that of the 
forefinger, and then curved, one of which is used in the R and P, 
but two in D, 0, Q. 



290 PEDAGOGICS, OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Now both signs or letters 

I A 
lay before the child and mother. The mother then asked 
her child, " But is your name only i and a ? " 

" No, my name is Lina." 

" Well, then, we need some more signs for your name. 
Say it to me once more, very slowly, but pay attention to 
your mouth, and especially to the movement of your 
tongue, and listen carefully too, and observe whether you 
notice anything." 

The child said, as her mother had desired, " L-i-n-a." 

" Now I will also speak your name in the same way," 
said the mother. " Be attentive — L-i-n-a." 

"Oh, yes," the child immediately remarked, "there 
are some more sounds added to the i and a by the move- 
ment of the tongue." 

" Quite right, my child ; now attend once more. Be- 
fore the letter i I lay the sign for the close sound which 
you hear before the open sound i — 

LI. 
Now, that is Li ; and before the letter A I lay the 
sign for the close sound which you hear before the 

sound a — 

NA. 

Now, that is na ; and the two put close together— 

LINA— 
make Lina." 

So the mother taught the attentive child, who was 
eager to learn; and the delighted child read, and said 
" Lina — Lina." Then she took the signs away and laid 
them anew. 

*' Oh, how glad I am, dear, good mother, that I cau 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 291 

now lay and read my name ! How I thank you ! But 
could father and other people read it too ? " 

*' It is about noon now," said her mother ; " your father 
and uncle will soon come home ; then we will see if they 
can read what you have laid." 

" If father and uncle were only here now, how glad I 
should be!" 

As the child said this, they came into the room, and 
Lina scarcely left them time to speak to her mother be- 
fore she caught hold of her mother's dress and looked up 
at her entreatingly. The mother understood the implor- 
ing look, and took the father by the hand and led him to 
the table, saying, " See, father, what Lina has laid here." 

The father looked, and read : " ^ Lina.' Ah, my child, 
you have really laid your name. You can write your 
name with sticks." 

Then the uncle came up, and said : " Now I must see 
that too. It is really so. 'Lina' is written here with 
sticks." 

Then they were all very glad. 

But the father said : " Now, my child, let me see you 
lay your name. I will take up the sticks ; now write it 
again with them." 

And she said, " Directly, dear father," and again laid 
LINA. 

Now the father, then the uncle, asked first about the 
one, then about the other, letters or signs, and the child 
was required to utter the open or close sound signified. 
Then, changing the order, they pronounced one of the 
sounds of the name Lina, and the child had to lay the 
sign for it. 

The pleasure and delight of this needed to be seen iu 
order to be realized. 



292 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

But the mother said : " Children, you are forgetting 
your dinner. The food will be cold." 

When they had all come to the table, Lina's uncle 
said : " The dear mother takes care of us all ; first she 
helps Lina, and now she takes care for us that our dinner 
may not get cold. You have to-day, Lina, given us pleas- 
ure by laying and reading your name; to-morrow give 
us pleasure by laying and reading the beautiful word 
* mother.' " 

" You are quite right, dear uncle," said the child. 

And every one at the table was as pleased and glad as 
if they were celebrating a birthday. 

The next day, the hour which the careful mother usu- 
ally devoted to her child had scarcely arrived when the 
child came to her, entreating, " Please teach me to-day to 
lay the beautiful word * mother,' so that I may again please 
father and uncle when they come home." 

" It is indeed a beautiful word which you, my child, 
wish to lay, and we will learn to lay it," said the mother. 
" But there is another word just as beautiful and dear, and 
that is Do you know what that is ? " 

" Ah, yes — ' father,' " said Lina. 

" Well, we will learn to lay this to-day, so that father, 
when he comes, may see that we thought of him and love 
him." 

Now the mother required the child to utter again, very 
plainly, the word 

Y_A-T-E-E, 

and asked Lina what open sounds she heard. It was not 
only easy for her to answer a '[as in far], and " e" [e, as 
in prey, quickly spoken, a little longer than e in get], but 
she also said at once, ' ' See, mother, I already know the 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 293 

sign for the sound * a ' " ; and she laid it on the table 
before her mother — 

A. 

" That is fine,'' answered her mother. " Now I will 
teach you the sign for the open sound e [a, spoken 
quickly] ; and she laid, at a little distance from one 
another, 

A E. 

By means of Lina's attention and her mother's help 
the close sounds in the word (V T E) and the three signs 
for them 

V T E, 

were soon found, and learned by means of practice and 
change of place, and the beautiful word 

VATEE 
lay before them. And this also Lina could read just as 
easily as she had before read her own name, and, after the 
sticks were taken up, she was soon able to lay the word 
herself. 

There was now again great delight — her present de- 
light, and that which Lina expected when her father and 
uncle came home again. The little girl, pleased with 
what she had done, and eager to learn, wished to go on. 
" Mother, dear mother," she said entreatingly, " my uncle 
wanted me to lay the beautiful word * mother' [Mutter]. 
Please teach it to me, so that when he comes to-day he 
may be pleased ; and father certainly will be glad also if 
I can lay it." 

" Willingly," answered her mother ; " only you must 
not forget the old as you learn the new." 

" Oh, no, certainly not ; you can question me whenever 
you wish." 



294 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Now the mother asked her little daughter first to speak 
the word slowly and distinctly, and to notice the open 
sounds u [oo] and e [a, quickly spoken]. The child soon 
found that there was only one new open sound (u), and 
her mother at once taught her the sign for it, 

u, 

and told her to lay the two letters on the table before her, 
a little way apart, which she did, thus — 
U E. 
The new close sound, m, which occurs in the word, 
was also soon found, and the sign for it, 

M, 
was learned by the child. So there soon stood, or rather 
lay, before her on the table the whole word 

MUTTER, 

to which the child, full of joy, added the word she had 
already learned — 

VATER. 

After the mother and child had in various ways com- 
pared the sounds and signs in the two words, and discov- 
ered the resemblances and the differences in the two, and 
the child could with certainty both lay and read them, 
then, to her great delight, her father and uncle entered 
the room. 

The child's eyes shone as brightly as they had done 
on the last Christmas morning, when she saw the joy of 
her beloved father and of her dear uncle. 

Signs and sounds were examined, and, as Lina answered 
all questions correctly, her pleasure was so great that she 
at last said, " I will take up the sticks for both words, and 
then lay each again." No sooner said than done. The 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 295 

sticks were taken up, and soon there lay again, beautifully 
arranged, before them all — 

YATEE, 

MUTTER, 

and quickly, too, 

LINA 
lay beneath. 

Then the father added to his little daughter's name 
the word 

LIEB [German for DEAR], 

and said, laughing, and asking to test her knowledge, 
" Now read also what I have written." 

" I know the first sign already," said Lina ; " the sec- 
ond and third I know too ; but I do not know what the 
bow above the IE means." 

The mother : " It shows that the two thus connected 
are the sign for the somewhat lengthened I [pronounced 
like the English ee in seen]. Now say what you know." 
" Lie " [Lee}, said the child. " Now close your lips," 
said the mother. " And you have the word * Lieb,' " said 
the child. 

" Now read both words," said the father encouragingly. 

" Lieb Lina" [Dear Lina], read the child, and clung 
lovingly and gratefully to father, mother, and uncle, look- 
ing up at them with glad eyes ; and she softly said, " My 
beloved father, my good mother, my dear uncle ! " 

" Yes, to have good parents is a great good fortune for 
children," said the uncle. " Let us see now, Lina, if jou 
can lay these beautiful words for us to-morrow." And 
then they all went quietly to dinner. 

The next morning, when the appointed hour brought 
mother and child together again for common employment, 



296 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

it was Lina's first care to fulfill her father's and her uncle's 
wish, and to lay the words which they desired. 

By exact observation of the words and their parts, the 
child then soon discovered that only two new open sounds, 
and but one close sound, with their signs, occurred in the 
whole : namely, the open sound ei, sign EI [like the Eng- 
lish letter I in pine], aiid the open sound o, with the sign 
; then the sound h, with its sign H. 

All this was soon learned by the attentive Lin a, guided 
by her faithful mother, and, after thorough and repeated 
practice, the desired words lay before mother and child 
on the table : 

" MEIN LIEBEE OHEIM " [My dear uncle]. 
" MEIN LIEBER VATER " [My dear father]. 
To these Lina quickly added : 

"HEINE LIEBE MUTTER" [My dear mother]. 

" MEINE LIEBEN ELTERN " [My dear parents]. 

Great was the joy ; but it was greater still when the 
father, after he had come home with the uncle somewhat 
earlier than usual, had read what was laid ; and Lina 
had, with the help of her mother, read the words which 
he added : 

" LINA 1ST UNSER LIEBES KIND " 
[Lina is our dear child] ; 
for it soon appeared that there were in it but three un- 
familiar signs — S, K, D — which the good mother easily 
pointed out to the child. 

Now, when the father and uncle had again read the 
words aloud, Lina took her mother by the hand, led her 
to the window where her sewing table stood, and whispered 
something to her. Then the mother looked kindly at the 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 297 

child, made some marks witli her fingers on the sewing 
table, and Lina, satisfied, went back to her father and 
said to him : " Go to the window for a little while ; I will 
now lay something more, and see if you can read it." 

With her mother's quiet help the following soon lay 
on the table : 

" DU BIST UNSER GUTER VATER " 

[You are our good father]. 

The mother had to show Lina but one new sign, G. " Kow 

come, dear father," said the mother, " and read what Lina 

and I said to you in silent words." 

After he had read it he embraced mother and child, 
and said, " You are my joy, my happiness." 

Then the uncle quietly approached them, and said, 
" Now let me be the fourth in your band of happiness, 
joy, and peace." 

" I have indeed thought of you, dear uncle ; but there 
is no more time now to make words, for mother says the 
dinner is waiting for us again." 

Thus passed many a joyous day for the happy family. 
Lina always had her box of sticks at hand, and whenever 
she could she tried to lay the names of the members of 
her family and point out their relations to the whole 
(whether cousin or grandmother), so that there was soon 
no name and no relationship that she had not been able 
to lay with sticks. 

At this time the father was obliged to take a journey, 
which he said would keep him away from home for some 
time. As soon as her father had gone, the child's old 
wish arose again. " Mother, I wish I could write, so that 
I might send a letter to father." 

" As far as possible I will grant your wish," said the 
22 



298 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

kind mother to the expectant child, who immediately 
sprang up joyfully, embraced her mother, and jubilantly 
cried : 

" To-morrow ! to-morrow ! " 

The next day came, and with it the hour fixed for the 
mutual employment of mother and child. Eull of expec- 
tation, Lina hastened into her mother's room. She had 
scarcely taken time to say " Good morning" to her mother, 
who was working at her sewing table, when involuntarily 
her eyes, head, and body turned toward the table in the 
middle of the room, whence a beautiful new slate seemed 
to beckon to her kindly. By the slate lay a slate pencil 
glued into a penholder, and with a few flying steps the 
little girl stood next to the table looking joyfully at the 
slate, and, as it were, caressing it, turning it on all sides, 
and twirling the pencil between her fingers. Again at- 
tentively examining the slate, she ran with it to her 
mother, exclaiming, " See, mother, the beautiful straight 
marks and the many little squares on the slate ! " 

" Yes, my child, they will make writing easy to you." 

All at once Lina stood quite perplexed, and as if awak- 
ened from a dream, before her mother ; at last she found 
words, and said : " mother, I thought I should write 
now with the pen on paper. I can not send this slate to 
father as a letter." 

" You will very soon be able to write on paper," said 
her mother consolingly, " although not yet with pen and 
ink, but with a lead pencil, so that you can write a letter 
to your father and send it before he returns ; only you 
must be as attentive as you were before." 

" mother, that I will be certainly ! " 

" Come, then, we will begin at once." 

Her mother now taught Lina first how to hold the 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 299 

slate pencil properly, so that the unpracticed little fingers 
would not be unnaturally bent and pressed together. Then 
she desired her again to lay her name, " Lina," with sticks 
on the table, and showed her how to indicate the length 
of one of the sticks laid on the table by a straight mark 
two squares long. After some help from her mother, Lina 
had soon written her name with her pencil on the net- 
work of the slate. When, after some practice, it stood 
completed on the slate, she showed it to her mother. 
" See, dear mother, is it right ? — 
* LINA.' " 

" Quite right," said the mother. 

The child joyously exclaimed : " Oh, how nice ! how 
nice ! Now I will lay and write ' father ' and ' mother ' 
and * uncle ' ; and * dear father ' and * dear mother ' and 
' dear uncle.' Then I can certainly send a letter to 
father." 

" G-ently, gently, my child ; one thing at a time. Your 
desire shall soon be granted, but do not be in too great a 
hurry." 

You, dear children, may imagine that this new ad- 
vance in ability was gladly made known to Lina's uncle, 
who had not gone away with her father, and that he took 
a great interest in it ; and he thought to himself, " Lina 
is so diligent, and gives her father and mother and me so 
much pleasure, that I must give her a pleasure the next 
time I come." And as he thought, so he did the next day. 

" Mother," said Lina, when the hour for employment 
brought them together again, " let me to-day at least try 
to write a little letter to father on the slate ; then, when I 
write a letter on paper, some time, it will be easier." 

" Well," said her mother, " we can try, even if we do 
not succeed." 



300 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

" Oh, with your help, mother, it will go beautifully," 
said Lina joyously. 

" But what will you write ? " asked her mother. 

Lina thought for a short time, and then said, " Dear 
father, please come home again soon." 

" Stop a moment," said her mother ; " we will first see 
if we can write all this. The first two words you can 
easily manage." These words were soon placed on Lina's 
slate. The other words were slowly spoken (one at a 
time), the letters for each word fixed upon, and after a 
short time the following stood as a letter upon the slate : 

"LIEBER VATER, KOMME DOCH BALD 
WIEDER." 

" Is the letter finished ? " asked Lina's mother. 

** Oh, no ; I must tell father that I can now write on 
the slate." 

And soon, with the mother's help, there appeared upon 
the slate — 

"ICH KANN SOHOIS" AUF DIE TAFEL 
SCHREIBEN." 

" Now the letter is done," said Lina. 

" Oh, no," replied the mother, " there is something still 
wanting. I told you, when we began the laying of words 
with your name, what is required in every letter." 

Then, after a few moments' thought, the little girl 
said : " You said, whoever wrote a letter must also write 
his name underneath it. I will do that too." 

"DEINE LINA" 
■she wrote below the letter, and said, " has written this 
letter to you." 

She had just finished, and had shown the letter to her 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 301 

mother, who was satisfied with it, when her uncle came 
into the room. Lina sprang from her chair, caught up 
her slate, ran to her uncle, and held it out to him in 
joyous expectation. 

" Ah, what do I read ? " said her astonished uncle. 
" A letter to your father already ? That is well, my dear 
Lina ; your father will be pleased." In a lower tone he 
added : " But the slate letter will cost a good deal of post- 
age. I am afraid it will be broken before it reaches your 
father." 

In a sorrowful tone Lina replied : " I have asked 
mother for paper ; but she thought I ought first to try to 
write with the pencil on the slate, and so this letter is 
only a trial." 

" Only wait," said the mother consolingly to Lina ; 
"we will let the letter stand on the slate, and, as you 
have done very well for the first attempt, 1 will to-morrow 
morning bring some cross-lined paper and a lead pencil 
with me from the city, and then we will copy the letter to 
your father and actually send it." 

Then the uncle laughed pleasantly, and said, while he 
took something wrapped in gay paper from the breast- 
pocket of his coat, " Well, the first is already provided." 
He unrolled before the child a sheet of paper ruled with 
cross-lines, and laid a colored pencil beside it. 

Greatly surprised, Lina stood by the table, and looked 
with delight at that which lay before her, and then at her 
uncle, who said : " That is yours, Lina. To-morrow you 
can write your letter with the pencil on the paper to your 
father." 

" I call that being an uncle indeed," said the mother, 
"who can guess people's thoughts. I wish I also had 
such a good, dear uncle." 



302 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

" Ah," said he, " the wishes of grown people can be 
guessed, but not so easily granted as those of children." 

This was the first really cheerful noon they had passed 
since Lina's father went away ; for he lived always in the 
remembrance of the happy little circle. 

The next day it was Lina's first object to copy care- 
fully on the beautiful paper, and with the gay-colored 
pencil which her uncle had given her, the letter to her 
father. 

The letter was actually sent off by the next post, to the 
great delight of the child. 

" Oh," said Lina to her mother questioningly, " will 
my dear father write me a letter, as he does to other peo- 
ple when he gets letters from them ? " 

"I do not know, and so I can not tell you. Your 
father has a great deal of business to do on his journey, 
and we must wait and see what he will do." 

Anxiously the child now looked forward to each fresh 
post-day and each approaching letter-carrier. At last the 
carrier came, and brought a letter to Lina's mother. It 
was actually from her father. Lina knew it immediately 
from the seal and writing. Eull of expectation that there 
might be something in it for her, she stood by her mother 
as the latter opened the letter. 

And, to her great delight, Lina noticed that the mother 
took out a folded paper and held it between her fingers. 
She waited silently till her mother should have finished 
reading her letter. Then the mother turned to the child, 
and said : " Your father sends you kind greetings, and 
thanks for your little letter. He sends you one also ; you 
may try to read it, in order to find in it whether your 
father has read your letter, and has understood what you 
wrote in it." 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 393 

With these words the mother gave Lina the folded 
page which she had till then held ; it was the father's an- 
swer to the little girl. Joyfully and gratefully she received 
it from the hand of her loving mother, who was thus de- 
veloping the child's inner nature in the apparent fostering 
of outward life. 

Happy over this unexpected gift, the child went with 
it to the window, and after she had looked into the dear 
sheet, thinking and comparing, separating and uniting, 
showing this by the quick motion of her eyes, she cried 
gayly to her mother, holding up the sheet to her : 

" Mother, I can read father's letter ! " 

" Well, my child," replied her mother, " come here and 
read it aloud to me." (The father's letter was written in 
the same way as Lina's, with Roman capital letters, or, 
in other words, with simple straight and curved lines, but 
without a network.) 

"LIEBE LINA: 

"DEIN BRIEFCHEN HAT MIR VIEL FREIJDE 

GEMACHT, ABER KOMMEN KANN ICH JETZT 

NOCH NIGHT, WARUM?— WIED DIR DIE LIEBE 

MUTTER SAGEN. MIR DAGEGEN MACHE DIE 

FREIJDE UND SCHREIBE RECHT BALD WIE- 

DER.* 

« DEIN DICH LIEBENDER YATER." 

" That I will," said the little girl, made glad by her 

* Dear Lina : Your little letter has given me great pleasure ; 
but I can not return home just yet. Your mother will tell you the 
reason why. So you must write me again very soon and give me a 
new pleasure. From your loving father. 



304 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDEEGAKTEN. 

father's letter. " But tell me, dear mother, why does father 
not come home now ? He promised so certainly, when 
he went away, to come back again very soon, and now he 
has been away so long." 

" Your good father has not been away so very long," 
said the kind mother, " only the time till his return seems 
long to you. But I confess that I am glad of this ; for 
your wanting your father so much is a proof to me of your 
love for him." 

" Oh, yes, dear, good mother, I love you indeed very 
much, and am glad to be with you ; but I love father 
also, and wish he may come back soon." 

" As I have already told you, I am very glad of it ; but 
we must be patient for some time longer before he can 
come." 

" But do tell me why, dear mother." 

" Have you not often heard your father say, when he 
went away : ' I have a great deal of business to do to-day ; 
eat your dinner without waiting for me ' ? That was not 
agreeable to us ; but when later, your father came back, 
and met us with such glad looks because he had success- 
fully completed his business, his return brought us double 
pleasure. You see, dear Lina, he has business now also 
which he would like to finish successfully for the pleasure 
of us all. But now we too will do something, my dear 
child, so that we on our side may give pleasure to your 
dear father on his return." 

" Oh, yes, dear, good mother ; tell me what I shall 
do." 

" That is easy. Your father wishes to have another 
letter from you, and says it will give him pleasure to re- 
ceive one. This wish of your dear father you can easily 
grant if you choose." 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 305 

" best mother, only tell me when you write again 
to father, so that I may inclose a little letter." 

" I shall write again in a few days, for your father, in 
his love for us all, will be very glad to have news of us 
soon, and to be certain that all is well with us. Now, till 
I write again, take great pains with your writing, so that 
your father may find an improvement in your letter." 

" That I certainly will," said the little girl to her 
mother quietly, but with self-confidence that was rooted 
in a firm will, and which greatly delighted her mother. 

After this, all Lina's activity had a quite peculiar ex- 
pression of earnestness and of joyousness and inward hap- 
piness. 

With the next letter the regular correspondence be- 
tween father and daughter began. The wish of the absent 
father to obtain information of the health and life of the 
family he had left behind gave almost more material for 
the little letters than their writer could manage, and so 
they had a developing influence on the dear little girl's 
capacity, knowledge, and power; but the certainty that 
her letters pleased her father (as each succeeding answer 
from him expressed in ever-new ways) increased Lina's 
diligence, and with its growth her courage also grew; 
with the growth of both, her perseverance also grew, and 
so in turn grew the comparatively greater completeness of 
the little girl's results. She deeply experienced the truth 
of the words of our poet, without knowing anything of 
them or of him : 

" Joy, joy drives the wheels in the great clock of the world." 

But her mother and uncle knew the words and the 
poet, as well as the truth, and so they fostered and 
strengthened, by little gifts, the child's capacity, will, and 
power of action, and, above all, the results of these three. 



306 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

Thus the father's desire to please the dear child was 
also increased. — But what delights a child more, what 
gives it more pleasure, than to have a book of its own ? It 
understands as yet nothing at all of the contents, but, not- 
withstanding, sits in a corner of the room with the book 
turned upside down, and imagines, strangely enough — de- 
ceiving itself — that it finds and reads in the book that 
which springs out of its own inner being in its uncon- 
scious striving after development. 

This experience, or remark, which may have been re- 
called to his mind, determined the loving father, who felt 
actually grateful to his little daughter, and also wished to 
encourage her (since his absence was to be longer than he 
himself had expected), to send home with the next letter 
a Story and Picture Book for Children, which he had met 
with in the family of one of his friends, and had found to 
be developing and instructive, and at the same time pleas- 
ing, and which had been particularly recommended to 
him in this respect by his friend. 

The eyes of the astonished little girl shone with joy 
and surprise when her dear father's book and the accom- 
panying letter came forth from the sealed wrapper, and 
were handed to her by her mother with the following 
words : " See, my child, your father sends you this. Be- 
cause your little letter gave him pleasure, he wishes to 
give you pleasure also." 

Yes, with a joyous and happy heart, Lina went to the 
nearest window — now reading her dear father's letter, 
now looking at the pretty book and turning over its 
leaves. 

As usual, the sympathizing uncle entered the room (it 
was just the dinner hour), and with great delight Lina ran 
toward him, arms and hands stretched out holding the 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 307 

beautiful gift. " Only see, uncle, what papa sent me ! " 
And then she drew him to the table, where, after a slight 
glance at the book, he explained the pictures to her. 

The midday meal (which had to-day been a festival) 
passed pleasantly, and a part of the afternoon was glad- 
dened in the little circle by giving, receiving, and sharing 
happiness, to which the invisible but faithful thought of 
the absent father gave a peculiarly spiritual character. 

But now, called away by his business, the kind uncle 
had to leave the happy circle. The mother, drawn away 
by domestic cares, had also left the room, and Lina found 
herself alone with her new companion — her book. She 
devoted herself wholly to looking at the pictures. At first 
she tried to recall, as she looked at them, what her uncle 
had said to her about them, and then she added to this 
what she could discover herself. But after some time she 
had come to an end of this also, and now she stood 
thoughtfully with the book in hand. Anticipation and ex- 
perience within the circle of her surroundings, especially 
of the life and actions of her mother, said to her — " If I 
knew the printed letters here, and could read what is said 
by means of them, then the book could tell me its beauti- 
ful little stories." Eagerly she tried to find a resemblance 
between the letters written by her with simple straight and 
simple curved lines and those printed here, and she actu- 
ally succeeded in bringing out certain similarities here 
and there, especially with the capital letters. However, 
they were not so clear that she could with certainty recog- 
nize her written letters in the printed ones. 

So, in wishing, anticipating, seeking, and hoping, time 
had passed and the twilight hour had come. For her 
dear mother — taught by her own experience in childhood 
and youth — had, as we shall later see, with good foresight 



308 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

— that is, with a true fostering sense of educating by de- 
yeloping, and with a view to the welfare of the child — left 
her alone with her book ; and, though separate and absent 
from the child, she nevertheless knew well what thoughts 
were stirring in her during this time. Now the mother, 
whose presence Lina had so long desired, entered the 
room. Lina went to her at once, saying, in a mournful 
voice, " dear mother, I can read father's letter, which 
is written ; I wish I could also read the book, which is 
printed ; but the letters in the book are so different from 
those which father and I have written, and which you 
have taught me ! " 

" They are not so entirely different, my child. If you 
are only earnest in learning to know the printed letters, 
you will soon find that there is but a very slight differ- 
ence between the two, and such as you can easily see and 
remember. And so you will soon find the likeness be- 
tween the two kinds of letters — that is, between those you 
have written and which your kind father used in his letter 
to you, and the printed letters in the book." 

" Yes, dear mother, it seems so to me in regard to a 
few of the letters ; but there are so many lines that curve 
like a snake, and I do not at all know where they come 
from, what they mean, and what I am to make of them." 

" My child, you shall very soon see how the simple, 
straight, and curved lines are connected with the winding 
or snake lines {m S), so that not the smallest line of the 
latter is superfluous or accidental. You will then easily 
find your written letters again in those in which your 
book is printed." 

" Do, do, dear mother, show it to me now ! " 

" Well, you have already told me that you found a 
likeness between some of the letters which you have until 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 309 

now used and those printed in the book, although you 
could not make quite clear their complete agreement. 
Now, show me these letters in your father's letter, and in 
your book." 

The child then pointed out the letters D and X), B and 
S3, and several others.* 

" You are quite right," said her mother. " The like- 
ness between the letters you have used and those with 
which your book is printed appears at first generally in the 
so-called large letters, but mostly in those you have just 
pointed out. But it is too dark to be able to further indi- 
cate to you the likeness — indeed, the agreement— between 
each two of the letters you pointed out, and it is not yet 
dark enough to have lights ; let me, then, as my house- 
keeping is done and I have time to chat an hour with 
you, first tell you a little story ; and then, when the light 
comes, show you the agreement between the letters." 

" Yes, tell me a story, dear mother. Here is a chair ; 
sit down." 

" You know that you played with your doll, and talked 
with your father, your uncle, and with me before you could 
write, even before you knew anything about writing. So 
also the people who lived on the earth a long, long time 
ago, surrounded by objects, talked to them, but especially 
with one another, just as you also have done at times; 
they even talked to themselves before they could write, 
before they knew anything about writing, before writing 
was found out. 

" But now what is writing, and being able to write ? 
Just think about it. Judge by your own observation and 
experience whether I am right, when I say that writing is 

* English letters do not present this difficulty. — Tr. 



310 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

the joining of the sound that we hear and which passes 
away, with a silent and still sign which is permanent ; or 
putting the picture or sign which is permanent in the 
place of sound which is transient, vanishing." 

" That I understand very well," said Lina ; " that is 
just the way we did when you taught me to first speak 
my name correctly, and the dear, dear words ' mother ' and 
'father,' and then to lay them with silent sticks, point 
them out, and at last write them." 

" You are quite right, my Lina ; and here you can im- 
mediately remark this great fact of life : that one under- 
stands everything which is said and taught, or even told, 
much better if one has already experienced it, although 
perhaps in a different way in one's own life — that is, in 
outward action and inner observation. Try, therefore, 
my child, to notice your own actions and the actions of 
others, and to gather for yourself many kinds of expe- 
riences, even now in your happy child-life. You will in 
that way much better understand what you meet with, 
what you see and hear, which you will now prove to 
yourself. 

" I will go on with my story. They say that when 
men could not yet write — that is, had no fixed, exact, mute 
signs for the single open and close sounds of the words 
by which an absent one could again make audible what 
was spoken, or the writer recall what was thought — then 
a shepherd, who had pastured his sheep on a grassy island, 
invented writing. It is also said that the shepherds dis- 
covered many things — for instance, the observation and 
knowledge of the glorious, starry heavens, raising the 
heart, and so lifting man's feeling to God, the giver of 
all good. In the starry sky they perceived the signs of 
language for praising and thanking God. You see, my 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 311 

child, it was a shepherd who was to find out how to write 
with letters. We can both now explain, by our own ex- 
perience of life, why the finding out and invention of so 
many excellent things is ascribed to the shepherds ; we 
can appreciate the truth of it. Did we not, when we last 
wandered on the hillside, see how the careful shepherd 
always kept the flock as a whole in view, and looked upon 
each individual sheep — even the smallest lamb — as an es- 
sential part of this whole ? — and so always in reference to 
the whole, and to the aim and object of the whole, the 
fostering of life. Thus, you see, a genuine shepherd, gath- 
ering his flock unto himself, learns to look upon others 
(e. g., the hunter or fisherman) as seemingly separate but 
in truth related to one great whole ; indeed, related to the 
fundamental unity back of all things. Thus it was with 
the lonely shepherd in a foreign country many, many 
years ago. He talked for himself and with himself ; he 
heard himself ; he spoke perhaps at first the name of a 
dear absent one, as the name of your father is now es- 
pecially dear to you. This name sounded perhaps in his 
heart ; perhaps the echo repeated it. And so his thought- 
ful mind and reflective intellect easily observed the differ- 
ent voice-sounds, and the different open sounds in the be- 
loved word, as we did in the dear names of Lina, mother, 
father. 

" Now we have ourselves, as you know, in our frequent 
ramblings seen thoughtful and active shepherds with their 
crooks dig out the turf at their feet into figures express- 
ing their thoughts, while their flocks grazed or lay down 
around them. The thoughtful shepherd in our story may 
have sought some sign that he could see by which to rep- 
resent what was speaking within him, and what he saw 
around him ; and the obedient hand may have indicated 



312 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

on the level ground, may even have marked upon it, as it 
were, involuntarily, that which his mind sought for and 
possibly perceived in the movements of the mouth when 
speaking aloud ; for we have observed elsewhere that the 
inner activity of thought and the outer creative activity 
of the hand stand in unconscious relationship to each 
other, react upon each other, and often in their united 
action seem to flow into each other and to be as one. 
Thus the individual absorbed in thought, holding some 
long object in his hand — i. e., a stick — and unconscious 
of all about him, involuntarily draws something with this 
stick, makes impressions on the ground spread before 
him. These signs and figures thus traced are in the main 
straight or simple curved lines, because of the manner in 
which they were produced. They may also owe their 
origin to the different positions of the mouth necessary 
in uttering the sounds ; for you will remember how we ob- 
served the various positions of the mouth in connection 
with the sounds i, o, and a, when I taught you how to 
write. And so we may readily understand, my child, as 
we remarked before, how writing and the alphabet may 
have been invented by a shepherd in a far-away country 
thousands of years ago ; and that these traveled from that 
country through all these many, many years, and finally 
reached us, came to me, and through me to you ; but they 
must have been much changed in the course of these 
wanderings through many countries and among many 
peoples these many, many years. 

" Therefore regard shepherds with respect whenever 
you meet them ; think at least, at such times, how one's 
solitary hours can be made useful by thoughtful observation 
of what is nearest — as in this case the shepherd's speaking 
with himself — and how we can thus discover what may be 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 313 

of great benefit to children as well as to grown people, 
and give pleasure through endless years. Only think of 
the writing which even now gave you so much pleasure, 
and of the reading which will soon no less delight you. 
Think, therefore, as often as you write, or will hereafter 
read, that you should always employ your time well even 
when you are alone, like the shepherd who invented writ- 
ing and the alphabet, and by their means taught reading. 
But now it has become quite dark without our noticing 
it. Go now, Lina, and get the light ; we will employ the 
rest of the time, since I have nothing more in particular 
to do to-day, in teaching you what you wish and need for 
the understanding and reading of your book — namely, the 
correspondence between written letters and the printed 
letters of your book." 

AV^ith a deep, long-drawn breath, which told that what 
she had heard had awakened in her mind many things 
before unfamiliar, the thoughtful child went to do what 
her mother had bid her. 

The light, when brought, altered the whole scene, and 
also Lina's whole frame of mind. Joyously she entered 
the room with the light, and scarcely had she placed it on 
the table before she ran to get her dear book, which was 
to bring her so much pleasure. 

" Come, sit down, dear mother ; here is the book. Now 
teach me to know the letters in it." 

" Willingly, my dear child ; but you must also take 
one of your dear father's letters as a help. You have al- 
ready rejoiced over the greater neatness, exactness, and 
completeness with which his letters were written in com- 
parison with yours. We now need these more perfect 
letters for satisfactory comparison. 

" Now take the I in your father's letter and observe 



314 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

the printed 3 in your book, and compare them. What do 
you find ? " 

" There, nothing but straight lines ; here, nothing but 
wound or twisted lines ; there, a long, large, vertical line ; 
here, a large line wound in a vertical direction ; there, two 
smaller parallel horizontal lines ; here, in a horizontal po- 
sition, two winding spiral lines almost parallel in their 
windings. So the two horizontal parallel straight lines 
in the written I are almost opposite to, yet like, the par- 
allel spiral lines in horizontal position, with only the 
little difference that each of the two straight parallel 
lines goes beyond the vertical line on both sides, but the 
parallel bent lines stretch out wholly on the left side." 

" Then what do you find, dear Lina, when you com- 
pare the two letters I and 3 ? " 

" That the two are like one another, but with the dif- 
ference that the lines of the first are straight, and those 
of the second curved." 

" Now let us look at the two Fs. What do you find 
there ? " 

"I find almost all that I did before ; only here the 
upper horizontal curved line of the ^ stretches on both 
sides beyond the vertical curved line, and that the lower 
horizontal line of the I — which also lies in a horizontal 
direction in the 3 — has curved upward further in the F. 
So that thus both letters F and ^, except these two little 
differences, are again quite like one another." 

" Quite right, my Lina. Now compare once more, after 
what you have already found out, the two letters L and S, 
and tell me what their comparison shows you." 

" As F and L are alike — only reversed — so that the line 
which is above in the F is below in the L, and, on the 
other hand, what is below in the F is above in the L, and 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 315 

that the L has not the triangle in the middle which points 
out the F, so also in an equal degree g and S turned 
round are like one another except the small hook" (in 
the g). 

" 'Now we will repeat them all, comparing them with 
one another. Now, my child, do the thrice different letter- 
forms show you something alike in each kind, yet differ- 
ent in the two kinds, and yet again a resemblance in this 
difference ? " 

" Yes, my dear, good mother, the same we spoke of 
before : that where the first kind of letters always has 
straight lines, the lines of the second kind are always 
winding, and at times there are slight changes in the po- 
sition. But do you know, mother, in what the likeness 
is very close ? It is in the letters T and Z ; what is 
straight in the first is simply crooked in the second." 

" Very good, my Lina. But you have already told me 
this afternoon that you found a likeness between the let- 
ters B and 33. What is it ? " 

" Ah, dear mother, you see that better than I do, and 
can also say it much better. The first likeness is, that 
what is straight in the B is again bent in the 33 ; only 
that in the former letter the main line, which is straight 
in B, forms in the S3 not a double curve, but only a simple 
bent line ; and what in the B are mere circular lines, are 
in the 33 differently curved lines ; also the upper small 
horizontal line in the B forms a downward curve in the 
33 ; but the lower horizontal line is according to the prin- 
ciple of the X, a twisted curve." ^areu 

" Since you found this agreement^ by will be easy for 
you to find that between E and 9^1, K anH ^." 

" Yes, quite easy ; looking at the 33 and 3 teaches 
that." 



316 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

" Now, for to-day that will be enough. To-morrow, if 
I have time, we will go on. Till then, can you try with 
your father's letter by your side to find the rest of the 
large letters in your book, and learn to know them ? The 
more of these you learn the more I shall be pleased, and 
your uncle will certainly be glad, too, when he comes at 
noon. Now I will get supper ready." 

As Lina had gone to bed the night before thinking of 
her book, she rose the next morning with the thought of 
the dear letters in it, and of her mother's wish that she 
should find out the rest of the large letters in the book. 

Lina had been brought up until now in all-sided life- 
union, without anticipating it, still less actually knowing 
it, and still less being able to designate it by a precise 
word, but showing it in life, in action, in feeling, and in 
mind; and so also the careful mother had fostered in 
the thoughtful, intellectual child the gradual anticipation, 
which was scarcely yet an impulse, quietly to pray to Him 
who is the giver of all good which we receive and enjoy, 
for the things which she desired for her parents, her 
absent father especially, and all other dear ones ; and so, 
as she remembered what her mother had said yesterday 
evening at the end of their talk, unconsciously to herself, 
and in scarcely audible childish words, the wish of her 
heart uttered itself : " Thou who givest all good, grant to 
me also to-day that I may give mother and uncle the 
pleasure which they expect from me." 

Cheerfully and quickly Lina's dressing was done. The 
love of the earr^"^' fostering mother had led the child on 
in the one day,' ': ^iihat each day was to her a valuable gift 
which pointed to an invisible fount of blessing. 

The simple but wholesome breakfast had been cheer- 
fully eaten, and the child hastened to draw forth her dear 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 317 

book, in order, first of all where it was possible, to examine 
the yet remaining large letters in it. 

By degrees, and with a great deal of comparison, she 
succeeded in her attempt, and recognized the U in the XJ, 
the f in P, the O in 0, the X) in D, the (S in S, the 51 in 
A, the ^ in H, the W in M, the ^ in N, the SS in W, the 
25 in y, the g in 0, the ® in G ; finally, the 3 in Z. 

So it was not yet quite noon when Lina could show in 
her book all the letters her father had used. 

Her mother was still employed in domestic matters, 
and had not yet been able to come back into the family 
room. But Lina could not wait ; she had to find her in 
the house, and in the midst of her business to say that to 
her great joy she could now point out, in the capital let- 
ters of her dear book, the letters which she and her father 
had used. 

" I will come to our room soon," said her mother, shar- 
ing the joy of her child. 

" But if uncle would only come, so that I could show 
it to him too ! For he certainly does not know or believe 
that I know already the large letters in dear father's beau- 
tiful book. If he only would come ! He stays away so 
very long to-day." 

" The stay is no longer than usual," soothingly replied 
her mother. " He is sure to come, only wait quietly." 

And he came, this much-desired uncle. How Lina's 
eyes beamed as she joyously held out to him her father's 
present, and could tell him of the advance she had made 
since yesterday ! Her uncle heartily shared her well-earned 
delight, which he increased yet more by letting her find 
the same letters on different pages, and very many differ- 
ent letters on the same page. 

Then, at last, Lina's mother joined the happy pair. 



318 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

She fully shared in the joy which came no less from the 
heart of the uncle than from that of the happy little girl, 
who clung closely to her mother, as if she had received 
from her the power to win what she had won, and wished 
to obtain yet more from her. Lina looked also at her 
uncle from time to time with joyful, shining eyes, as if 
the sympathizing clear gaze of his eyes would make her 
perceive more clearly what her heart desired. 

The dinner was scarcely ended when Lina with her 
two treasures — the book and her father's letter — settled 
herself by her uncle, who usually spent some time after 
dinner in the midst of the little circle, in order to enjoy 
with him the pleasure of comparing and finding out the 
likenesses and the differences in the two kinds of letters. 
The mother, having attended to her domestic duties, soon 
made a third in the bright group. It was clearly per- 
ceived by all three that there is a simple, comprehensive 
law, according to which our common large printing let- 
ters were formed from the predominantly straight-lined 
ones — namely, that the straight lines of the latter are 
mostly replaced in the former by winding, rarely by sim- 
ple curved lines ; and the simple curved lines of the latter 
are replaced in the former by pointed and irregularly 
curved lines ; but that the two kinds of letters are in the 
main alike in their internal construction and connection 
of parts. 

Lina now showed great skill in recognizing the large 
printing letters, but, instead of being delighted, she turned 
with unexpected sadness to her mother : " But, dear 
mother, I can not yet read in my book, for there are 
so few large letters in it, and there is only one of them 
in any word ; but there are so many small letters ! How 
shall I learn to know them all ? Oh, do teach me ! " 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 319 

" Do not be uneasy, my child," soothingly said her 
mother, who had expected this request when she came 
into the room ; " there are really no more of these than of 
the others you already know ; only a few of them show 
some difference. If you are attentive, and will compare 
them yourself as you did before, you will easily learn to 
know these also." 

" Well, then I shall surely be glad to-morrow," said 
Lina's uncle, rising from his seat. " Now I must say good- 
by to you for to-day, since my business calls me, as you 
know. So to-morrow we will have as pleasant a meeting 
as to-day." 

" Certainly," said the mother. 

" Yes, certainly," said the child, " if dear mother helps 
me again. 

" Please do, now," was all Lina said when her uncle 
had gone away; and the mother understood the child's 
simple words. 

" Now sit down by me, and bring your father's two 
presents with you. I need not tell you much ; you will 
soon be able to help yourself as before, and will like to do 
it, for you have now found out that what we learn by our- 
selves not only gives us greater pleasure than what we 
learn from others, for we gain from it the beneficial and 
strengthening feeling of our own activity ; but we also 
much more easily retain what is thus learned, and can 
apply and use it again much more readily. What was the 
first letter which we learned to know ? Show it to me." 

" Here it is— 3." 

"And from which of those you knew before did it 
result by changing the straight lines into the waving or 
winding lines ? Show me this also," 

" Here, from the L" 



320 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

" Yes, the 3 lias sprouted from the I, as the curled-up, 
unopened leaf from the germ, the bud. But you know — 
for we have a great many times wonderingly noticed it in 
our walks and among our flowers — that the many-petaled 
flower or blossom bring forth the simple seed, and seems 
to gather itself up in this once more. So it is, my dear 
child, with very many things ; they must become small 
again — that is, they must be drawn up into themselves 
and concentrated before they can be really of use. And so 
it is with our large printing letters : they also had to be first 
simplified, drawn into themselves as it were, stripped of 
all ornaments, before they could serve the great purposes 
and prepare the many pleasures for which they were in- 
tended — by reading. Let us see once more. 

" Look again in your book. Which of all the little 
letters in it could well represent the 3 and I ? " 

" This one, I think." 

" And you are quite right. You can really find again 
in the small i all the crooked coarse and fine lines and 
ornaments which the 3 shows. They are reduced to the 
vanishing point; only the upper ornamental stroke has 
freed itself and become independent, although reduced 
to a small dot. Now compare 3 and I once more by the 
light of what we know, so that the differences and like- 
nesses maybe clear and vivid to you, and so that you may 
find them again with other letters. Now, which of the 
small letters do you think indicates the ?5 ? But I must 
tell you beforehand that you must cut off many ornaments, 
and only keep the essential part. Now what may be the 
essential part of the ^ beside the curved middle line ? " 

" I think the little stroke which is at the right, and 
also the curved roof. The little line bending upward to 
the left may very well be left out," 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 321 

" So I think too. Now try which among the little 
letters has some likeness to the large ^." 

Examining and comparing, the child sought in her 
book, and looked somewhat doubtingly at her mother, 
pointing at the same time to the f in the book. 

" Let me see if you are right. First, there is the prin- 
cipal stroke, only more vertical and but little curved ; 
second, there is also here the little stroke at the right. 
The essential part of the twisted roof is also left ; only the 
little curved line at the left has disappeared. And see, 
you are right — the f indicates among the little letters what 
the 5 does among the large ones. We will now try to find 
among the small letters one more which means the same 
as one of the large letters ; then that will be enough for 
to-day. I mean the T), and compare it first with the let- 
ter which it started from, the D. Notice what is the 
most essential part of it, and then try to find it among 
the smaller letters." 

It was not long before Lina pointed, with greater cer- 
tainty than before, to the b. 

" See, this time you have found it easily and quickly ; 
this gives me pleasure. But now we will place the three 
letters D, D, b side by side, and see if you are right. Yes, 
it is true ; the principal stroke is in all of them — in the 
first very winding, in the second quite straight, and in the 
third something of both. So also the principal curved 
stroke is in all three, but in the first it curves downward ; 
in the third, on the contrary, upward ; but in the second, 
the middle one, neither way, but goes straight from the 
vertical line. We now must stop for to-day ; you know 
house affairs need my attention. You, my Lina, if you 
like, may easily find some more resemblances between the 
large letters which you know and the small ones which 



322 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

you do not yet know. To-morrow you can show me what 
you have found ; now you may play what you like." 

" If I may, I would like to go once more to the kin- 
dergarten." 

" Willingly, my child ; you may go for your little 
neighbor, Minna, and take her with you." 

" Oh, that is nice, if I may do that ! I like little Minna 
very much. Thank you, dear mother." 

The two children, hand in hand, went happily to the 
kindergarten, which both had attended daily until a short 
time before ; but now Minna, who was the younger of 
the two, was the only one who still went regularly. Lina 
only went occasionally, since during her father's absence 
her mother could devote more time to her, and because 
she had already outgrown the kindergarten and was to 
attend the primary school after the return of her long- 
expected father. 

But now how delighted were her former playmates and 
companions in work, to see her whom they all loved, after 
being deprived of her company for what seemed to them 
a long time! And how happy was Lina once more to 
join the circle in which she had been so often and so 
joyous ! 

What was more natural than that she should be ques- 
tioned as to what she had done at home during this time, 
and what she was still doing? The kindergartner also 
willingly permitted Lina to answer these questions, so 
that her little audience might hear how children could be 
busy at home also, and how good children actually were 
so, for she knew Lina's employment. 

But what Lina first spoke of — for her heart was full of 
it — was of her beautiful book, which her absent father had 
sent to her because she had written letters to him, 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 323 

" Written letters ! " cried the children, astonished. 
" Where did you learn ? Who taught you ? " 

These and other questions were at once pressed upon 
her. She told how her mother had first taught her to lay 
her name with sticks. 

" Show us — show us how your name looks laid with 
sticks." 

" Yes," said the kindergartner, who was quietly listen- 
ing to their talk, and had again convinced herself how 
children unconsciously teach one another and like to 
learn from one another — " yes, show it to us, for we have 
figure-laying with straight sticks ; so that comes in very 
nicely. Come, place yourself at the middle of the table ; 
then all the children can see very well." 

And Lina laid her name, and showed her former com- 
panions what signs indicated the I and the A, the L and 
the N. 

" Can you lay my name too ? " said Minna coaxingly, 
standing by her side. 

" Oh, that is easy," said Lina. " Listen — your name 
sounds almost like mine : Minna — Lina — and only one 
closed sound, the first, is different ; and one closed sound, 
the middle one, you can hear double." So she now easily 
laid with sticks the name Minna. 

" Oh, if we could only lay our names too ! " said the 
larger children. " Do teach us ! " 

" I will ; but you must first speak your names very 
plainly, find their parts, and notice which of the sounds 
are open and which are closed ; then you must learn 
to know the particular and proper sign for each of the 
sounds." 

"The dear gardener" (so the children liked to call 
their loving fosterer, as, on the other hand, she liked to 



324: PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

call them her plants and flowers) " will certainly like to 
teach it to you, as my good mother did to me." 

" Certainly," answered the kindergartner kindly, " only 
we must also fulfill the condition which Lina mentioned 
to us : that is, we must first speak clearly and in full 
tones." 

" Oh, certainly, that we will," said all the children, who 
understood what she said. Some of them clung lovingly 
to the kindergartner ; others looked with joyous gratitude 
into the clear eyes of the happy little girl. Two of the 
children clung entreatingly round the neck of their com- 
panion, who now wished to go away. 

" No, you must not go yet, Lina — must she ? " said 
they all, turning entreatingly and questioningly to the 
kind kindergartner, who they were sure would carry out 
their wish. 

" Lina must do as she wishes," she replied. But before 
Lina could answer, the children had drawn her into the 
circle for their favorite play. The Doves, which was fol- 
lowed by a second and a third play. But now Lina be- 
gan in earnest to prepare to go home. The two little 
ones who had formed a peculiar, silent friendship for her, 
again embraced her, kissed her cheek, and said : 

" Come soon again ; you brought us beautiful things." 

" Yes, come soon again," repeated the vigorous voice 
of a healthy, blooming boy almost five years old, who 
with a few companions of his own age had been hitherto 
a silent listener and thoughtful observer of the little 
teacher. 

And nodding a cordial " Yes," almost involuntarily 
the departing child vanished behind the door which closed 
upon her ; for, almost unconsciously to herself, the atten- 
tion of the children (since one development always de- 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 325 

mands another) had called forth in her the urgent desire 
to endeavor in her home to meet her mother's wish and 
expectation. 

" Yes, see," said the child-loving kindergartner — who 
made use of every circumstance to lead her little charges 
to notice the phenomena of life around them, but especial- 
ly to observe their own life and action — " see how nice it 
is to know something, and to be able to teach others ! 
Lina is only a little older than the oldest among you, 
and only a short time ago was your playmate and the 
playmate of us all ; and now she comes and kindly 
teaches us beautiful things. You see that those who are 
attentive and diligent can, even when still young, be of 
use to others." 

But Lina's short visit had been not only useful to the 
children, but had also brought them much good. It had 
made them attentive to all which concerns the perception 
and relations of forms, for on that partly depended the 
knowing how to lay the letters ; but especially does it de- 
pend on attention to correct and full-toned speaking, in 
order to learn to write ; for even the smallest child, in 
order to meet the requirements put upon him, must have 
the feeling, however dimly, that from this tax upon his 
power, out of this exercise of his will, there will proceed 
that which is beneficial to him. 

This foreboding in the child is by no means a hidden 
self-seeking, but the natural outcome of the desire and 
impulse toward spiritual selfhood, self-dependence, and 
the wish to place himself in perfectly harmonious rela- 
tionship to his entire environment. 

After returning from the kindergarten it was Lina's 
first act, as on the afternoon before, to compare the large 
letters which she knew in her dear book with the small 



326 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

letters in it, in order to find out those which correspond, 
which she actually succeeded in doing, to her great de- 
light. So was it also the next morning : after all the little 
duties of cleaning, arranging, and clearing up which were 
required of her were done, and the simple breakfast was 
enjoyed, she immediately sought out her dumb teacher, 
which in a remarkable manner taught her — under her 
mother's thoughtful guidance — to inform and instruct 
herself. 

She first of all compared the large letters again with 
each other, and soon found that in one there are three^ in 
another two, and again in still another there is one essen- 
tial line, however curved it may be. She discovered, too, 
which of the hooks, bows, or curves were essential, and 
which unessential. She found the same to be the case in 
the small letters — three, two, or even one stroke, but 
(now with, again without little strokes, circles, or curved 
lines) were essential. And so she succeeded in finding 
out a considerable number of the small letters whose simi- 
larity to the corresponding large letters was now readily 
detected. With some of the former it was of course the 
case, in spite of all repeated comparison, that she could 
not at all see her way clearly. Yet in all these difficulties 
she hoped for her mother's certain glance and guiding 
word. So, with glad expectation, she looked forward to 
the noon, when she was to give an account to her mother 
of what she had found ; and she joyously cried out, as 
business brought her mother into the room, " I know al- 
ready twelve more of the small letters." 

" I am very glad to hear it. When we have eaten our 
dinner you can show them to me, then we will examine 
what you have found. Now you can do your other work, 
and then provide what is necessary for the noontime." 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 327 

And the noon, which Lina so longed for, came at last ; 
but her uncle, whom Lina had expected with equal long- 
ing, did not come for an unusually long time, and Lina 
had to practice patience, and could not tell him of the ad- 
vance she had made and of her delight in it. But finally 
he came, having been detained by business. His com- 
munications to her mother prevented Lina from gaining 
his attention for her dear letters. At last appeared the 
desired opening, and, with a long-restrained, deep-drawn 
breath, Lina brought forward the proofs of her diligence, 
and said, turning to her uncle : " Ah, dear uncle, now I 
know nearly all my little letters, and I can soon read in fa- 
ther's beautiful book. — But look here, dear mother, and see 
if I am right," and she pointed to the letters which she 
had found, by careful comparison in her father's letter 
and in her book, as having the same meaning : M, 9)?, nt ; 
N,9l,n; U,U,u; W, SB, m ; V, 35, d ; 0,D,o; P, ^, ^ ; 
H,ip,|; B, S3,B; S, @, ^ ; K,^,f; K, 9^,r; Z, 3, j. She 
was doubtful as to the letters 31, a ; (S, e ; ®, g ; O, q ; 
2;, t ; S^, c ; and she did not know in the least where to 
place the letters f, ff, ft, f , (^, f(^, ff, j, and several others. 
" Will you please tell me, dear uncle, what these signs 
mean, and how they are to be spoken so that they can be 
heard ? " said Lina, turning to him entreatingly. 

" That I shall be very glad to do, my child, especially 
as I have some time to spare, for I did my afternoon's 
work this morning. But I will not encroach upon your 
mother's office of teaching, which she does so well." 

"Do so now, since you have time; it will please me 
particularly, for I have a great deal to do to-day. I will 
then later," she added jestingly, " test whether you two 
have done your work well," and with a farewell, accom- 
panied by a kind nod, she left the room. 



328 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

" Now bring your slate and pencil here and let us try 
what we can do," said her uncle. 

And the uncle, who could draw a little, drew first the 
three forms of each of the doubtful letters plainly side 
by side ; and then again drew two of each of these, one 
within the other. In this way Lina could easily perceive 
what was too much in one form and too little in another, 
but principally what was essential and therefore abiding 
in all three forms ; and, to the child's great delight, the 
vanishing doubt changed to complete certainty. 

" But what shall we do with the other single letters, 
which seem to belong nowhere ? " 

" See, Lina," said the uncle, " only look at them more 
carefully ; they are mostly letters made up of two or more, 
and you already know most of them singly. The few that 
you do not know are this, and this," pointing to the f and 
the i- " That you could not find these two letters among 
those you knew is no fault of yours, for they have been 
changed greatly. The two beautiful curved letters S and 
© have straightened themselves in f, and so are scarcely to 
be recognized again in it, although the latter comes quite 
simply from the former." 

" I can very well imagine that. It is like a crooked, 
bent wire which is almost straightened." 

" Quite right ; and now you will be able to tell what 
they are, and also to sound them, which you did not know 
how to do before. See, now, first of all, the ff." 

" Oh, that is all quite easy. It is a double f. " 

"And that?" asked the uncle, pointing to the let- 
ters (I. 

" That is quite easy too ; it is an f and t joined to- 
gether." 

" Yes, and spoken in one open sound. And do you 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 329 

know how you have to write this joined, double, open 
sound with your letters ? Show me." 

" I know that very well ; it is ST. 

" That you could not make out this letter " (pointing 
to the 5 ) "is no fault of yours. It is also a double letter — 
that is, an f and a g — and means that the open sound f is 
to be sharply spoken." 

" Yes, I know that too. Mother taught me the sign 
for it— SS." 

" Quite right. I am glad that you have been so atten- 
tive to your mother's words. I shall tell her how glad I am. 
But now you must also learn to explain the double sign 
here " (pointing to the (^), " and to sound it. Look at it 
closely ; you know the single signs." 

" Ah, I know these very well ; they are the c and the ^. 
But in c^ I can not speak the two letters in one sound." 

" No ? I think you can. How did your mother teach 
you to write these two signs or letters ? Show me upon 
the slate." 

" That I know very well : C and H " (drawing both on 
the slate). 

"And if you should speak these two signs as one 
sound ? " 

" Oh, now I know : (^ means the open sound CH." 
She drew the sign quickly on her slate without difficulty. 

" See how any one who is attentive and compares 
thoughtfully can easily find out many things for himself. 
We have next a sign made up of three letters " (pointing 
to the f(^) ; " can you analyze this for me and point out 
its sound ? " 

" Just let me try, uncle. Are not the three letters 
f cl^ joined here in one sign ? " 

" Well, but do you not remember that you have al- 
24 



330 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

ready joined them, and so shown that they were to be a 
single sound, when you were writing under your good 
mother's directions ? " 

" Of course, I know it now, as you are so kind as 

to help me to it ; it is the sign SOH for the sound " 
(she utters the sound). 

" Now we have another sign which you could not ex- 
plain — it is this " (the letter j ) ; " but you have already 
learned to know a similar letter. Do you remember it ? " 

" Certainly ; it was the i " (looking it out in the book 
and pointing to it). 

" Well, what capital letter, and which of your letters, 
are like that ? " 

" The I and the 3 " (pointing to each in the letter and 
the book). 

" Now, you must know that the signs or capital letters 
I and 3 each have two sounds : first, the voice sound j, 
for instance, in the name Ida ; and, second, a soft, flowing, 
open sound, for instance, in Julie, Johann." * 

" But now if this soft, flowing, open sound is to be 
represented by a small letter, it is done by the sign or 
letter | (j), which, as you quite rightly noticed, is like the 
small t, only it is made longer below so as to indicate its 
flowing. So you see the sign j, the small letter, represents 
an open sound similar to that of the g " (pointing to this 
sign in the book), " only very soft ; as, for instance, when 
you say [in German] 'That picture pleases me.'" "I 
want that doll." f 

" How glad I am that I know all these small letters, 
and can find them again in the large ones, and show them 



* The German J has the sound of our English Y .—Translator. 
\ " Jenes bild gefallt mir." " Jene puppe mochte ich haben." 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 331 

to my mother ! How I thank you, uncle " (nestling up 
to him), " for being so kind, and helping me so nicely by 
your drawing. Without that I should not have found it 
so easy ! " 

" You are right, my child ; drawing makes it much 
easier to notice and examine. Therefore give heed to the 
instruction in drawing which your mother gives you. It 
will at a later time, like a shining light, show you the 
way many times even when you would not expect it. But 
now I must go too. Do you remember what your mother 
said jestingly when she went away?" 

" Oh, yes ; she said she would examine us by and by, 
to see if we too had done our work well." 

" You have remembered very well. Since we are both 
to be examined, go over it all by yourself very carefully. 
For to-day, farewell. Say farewell to your mother also 
for me." 

" Farewell." 

Lina's first act now was to open her book according 
to her uncle's advice and request, and to pronounce the 
signs or letters wherever she pleased. When she had 
done this successfully several times, she ran to her mother 
to give her uncle's message, and to give an account of the 
new advance she had made, and of her kind uncle's assist- 
ance. "Do come soon, so that I may show it to you." 

" I am very glad. I knew that your uncle, who is 
skilled in drawing, would teach you more easily and better 
than I. Now, my child, go to your usual work. I shall 
soon be ready, and then I will come to you. If you are 
ready before I come, and have done your work well, you 
can play whatever you like." 

" May I then go for our neighbor's Minna, and lay, 
interlace or build something with her ? " 



332 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

" You may, if you have done what you were told." 

" Oh, that is good — that is good ! " 

The little girl was in an extremely happy mood. The 
employment under the guidance of her uncle, the prog- 
ress which she had thus made, and the new knowledge 
she had gained had made her so glad, and the joyous hope 
of being permitted, after well-done work, to get her dear 
little neighbor to play with her, had called such serenity 
into her soul that her remaining work was not only done 
with unusual quickness, but also so well that she had no 
doubt that her mother would be satisfied with it when she 
afterward gave an account of it. And so she went to her 
young neighbor, Minna, with the request : " Come with 
me, Minna ; we may play ; my mother is willing. Go and 
ask your mother if she will let you go home with me to 
play." And scarcely had the words passed Lina's lips 
when Minna hastened to her mother to beg the desired 
permission, with which she soon returned. 

" Take your great doll with you, and give me your 
building boxes, and your laying and interlacing sticks. 
We will play kindergarten, and will teach our dolls the 
building, laying, and interlacing, the counting, writing, 
and reading." 

So a pleasant play soon began ; but the time passed 
quickly to the happy children thoughtfully and busily 
employed. 

" Minna," said Lina soon after the play had begun, in 
quite an earnest tone, "we must leave what our dolls 
build, interlace, etc., so that when mother comes she can 
see what our dolls can already do — counting, writing, and 
reading." 

The mother came. 

" Oh, what have you there — a whole market?" 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 333 

" Yes, we have been playing at kindergarten. Only see 
what beautiful things our dolls have made ! They can 
count, and write, and read too. Only see here : my doll 
has written her name Fanny, and Minna's doll her name 
Anna. They can read too — just hear. Anna can read the 
name Fanny, and Fanny the name Anna," and she sup- 
posed that the creations of her imagination would be 
reflected in her mother's mind. And the mother did 
actually rejoice like the children, but in a different way 
and from other causes. She rejoiced that the instruction 
which life gives to children becomes a vital part of their 
lives, and so again blossoms and bears fruit in full, fresh, 
healthy lives. 

" This is all very beautiful," said the mother. " Your 
dolls have been quite diligent, now they must rest again ; 
but, before they go, tell them they must put things in 
order, each thing in its place. Then, thanking her for 
playing with you, take Minna home and thank her mother 
too for letting her come. Come back soon, and then I 
will, as you wish, see what your uncle has taught you." 

Before her mother was aware Lina had returned and 
greeted her with the entreating question, "You stayed 
here, did you not, that I might show you what my uncle 
has taught me ? " And, not waiting for an answer, she 
seized her mother's hand and drew her to the table. 
" Come, sit here ; here I can show you all that my uncle 
taught me, and how he taught it to me ; for see, it is still 
all upon the slate." 

And Lina now showed her mother first the relation 
and development of the form of the letters A, 51, a ; E, @, 
e ; G, ®, g ; Q, Q, q ; T, 3:, t ; C, S, c ; that she could 
comprehend and make them again on the slate. In doing 
this many things became clearer to her, for the mother 



334 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KIXDERGARTEN. 

made her notice this and that thing which she had either 
forgotten or overlooked in her uncle's explanations. She 
also pronounced for her mother the signs j, f, and the 
compounds formed of the latter, ff, ft, ^, f(^, c^, and the 
doubled and sharpened ff. 

" I will beg your uncle to be your teacher for the 
future, for you have retained his instructions as easily as 
you have understood them." 

" Only see how nicely he has drawn it all for me ! It 
is just as if one thing grew out of the other, like the 
blossoms from the buds, and from the blossoms again the 
fruit or the seeds. Do you know how prettily you showed 
me this on our blossoming aj^ple tree, and the June apples 
you picked up ? " 

" Yes ; you see, my good child, we can show, by means 
of drawing, a great many things which it is either very 
difficult or quite impossible to show by words ; and, again, 
the living forms of nature testify to the truth which, as 
it were, lies slumbering or even dead to us in word and 
picture. Therefore, my dear daughter, esteem highly the 
teachers, inwardly bound together like three loving sis- 
ters: : the living nature, the representative drawing, and 
the explanatory word — this latter heard as well as read. 
One explains the other, and makes what it says more com- 
prehensible." 

" Then I am glad, my dear mother, that my kind 
father sent me this beautiful book, for now I can read a 
great many words in it ; and I was able to read them just 
as soon as I knew the small letters. May I show you ? " 

" Yes, I am eager to hear." 

" Oh, it is easy ; they are the same letters and words 
you have taught me to write, and which I can read in 
father's letter. See, I will show you all the words I can 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WRITE AND READ. 335 

read now : in, im, an, am, nm, tin, mdn, metne, meine^, bein, 
'Dnnt, teiner, beinem, beine^, netn, hin, fetn, ^in, ntmm, !ann, 
man, lam, ba, ba^, bac^* And see, here I can read a whole 
line : ' When the child cried, a man came at once and 
said, " What do you want, child ? " "I want to go to my 
mother," said the child.' " 

" That is well done indeed," said the mother to Lina ; 
" now you will soon be able to read the whole book ; at 
least, you may try the first story to-morrow." 

" Yes, if you will help me, I shall get along very well." 

" If you can not immediately read a word, you must, 
as soon as you know all the letters of it, make it with your 
writing letters, then you will be able to read it more easily." 

" How glad I shall be when I can read the whole 
book ! " 

" Well, to-morrow we will see. At present you have 
had enough. Now we must go to other work." 

That evening after supper, before she went to bed, and 
early the next day when the morning tasks were done, 
Lina took her dear book in hand to try to read the first 
story in it, from the beginning to the end, aloud to her- 
self, and she succeeded quite well, so that her heart beat 
with delight to be able to read aloud to her mother and 
her uncle the first story in her book ; and she could not 
hide her joy when her mother came into the room to set 
another task. 

" You seem so pleased, that it is a good omen for this 
noon." 

Laughing joyously, Lina set about her task, for such 
it actually was ; and to the delight of her mother and 
uncle, as well as to her own, Lina read quite accurately 
the first little story in her book ; only her mother had first 
to make her notice the meaning of the punctuation marks. 



336 PEDAGOGICS OF THE KINDERGARTEN. 

After the general joy over Lina's progress in the little 
book had somewhat subsided, she nestled up to her mother 
mournfully, and said, " I only wish I could read the stories 
aloud to father, and that he could thus hear that I can 
already read in his book." 

" Well," replied her mother, " he will believe us if we 
write to him that you read the first story aloud to us this 
noon. But 1 know another way in which you can prove 
to your father that you have read the story. Write off a 
part of it for him with your letters and in your writing ; 
for your father will easily see that you could not write 
anything from the book if you could not first read it." 

" That is really excellent ! What good advice your 
mother knows how to give everybody ! " said her uncle. 

" Oh, that is good ! " said Lina, delighted. " Please, 
dear mother, give me some paper and draw me some lines ; 
I will write at once." 

" You shall have paper and all else you need presently, 
but there is no such hurry about the writing ; you can 
take great pains with it, for I shall not send the letters 
for some days." 

" I am very glad of that," said the uncle, " otherwise 
I should run the risk of not seeing Lina^s work at all. 
Business will prevent my coming to you for ^the ^next two 
days. But I shall be so mucih the more pleased to see 
something new when I return. Now, good-by." 

During the next few days Lina was busy in doing the 
work she had set herself. With the kind help of her 
mother she succeeded to the satisfaction of the latter, and 
to her own delight, as well as to that of her uncle, who 
took such hearty interest in the development of little 
Lina, when some days after, as he had promised, he again 
.appeared at the dinner table> 



HOW LINA LEARNED TO WEITE AND READ. 337 

Scarcely was the meal finished than she availed her- 
self of her mother's permission to show her work to her 
uncle. 

" But what a great sheet this has become ! " said her 
uncle. " That will scarcely go into the letter," he added 
jestingly. 

" Oh, yes," said Lina, turning entreatingly to her 
mother. " I wish, dear mother, that I could write as fine 
as you and father do, and use such letters. It is so 
quickly done when you write ; besides, you do not use 
so much paper as I do. Please, mother, teach it to me ! 
Please do ! " 

" Yes, my child, that can be done ; but we should have 
to give more time to it than I can spare, now that your 
father is away. You will learn it better at the prepara- 
tory school, to which you are to go when your father, 
whom I soon expect, has returned ; till then you will have 
to be contented. You can pass your time in reading 
your book." 

" Oh, yes ; and after that I will write as you do." 



PLATE I. 




PLATE I. 




PLATE II. 



/ 




3. 







^ 





a. 




PLATE II. 




mi 




fO. 





/2. 





/^. 




/&. 




PLATE III. 




^' - r^ssatv """^ 


/^^3 ^ X y*^^ z;iQ!i'\ '(Tw^A^'}>'3Pr~ 


r-r^ /' W^tJIB b^ ^ / %J 4fc^ 


^w^'' .^"^J' ^^%ii, ) .-?^F 


/ ^-^ 


-/. j2. 5. 










^ ^^ 


/r^^^ \ _--^^^ ^^^1 V 


^^^ -^ F^^ /^#^^^^ (^S^^' 


^;z:j|i ^^SJI ^^"^^ ^^SL ^ 


11— ^^^ if' ^^ 




^^ f. 6\ 








-^^ ^<~^ '-^ 


^ >\]P^^ ^^^■^^sJ^Si ^^^^ V ^T 


*^B ^t| ^S^^l^^^ vi^l^ ^;--a i 


^.£^1 ^^^ "^' /^ ^"^i "^ ~i -^t 


fc=j ^^- ^^ jP^" l-f f fc- 


J 


i a a 








^1 ^a 


^ j^ It 


3: it /^a ifr 


A^ K\ A^^ i 11 


^ ll^ B- IL^ ■■- L 


' 1 - ■ 


io //. ^i>. 







PLATE IV. 




PLATE V. 



S. 



m 



^i 



(K 



a 





■M^ 



'm 



10. 



11. 



12. 



PLATE VI. 



^: 



i\ 




a 






ii. 




m 



IL 



tz 




25 



PLATE VII. 



'/.Q f«^ 



^L 



^ 



^^liijinm 







PLATE VIII. 




PLATE IX. 










., 


















































































































?.<? 














, ?.? 












.?? 




























^ 


!1 


^ 
























i 


^ 


*^ 


> 










sCa^ 


^ 


' 








I 


#> 












III 






III 






I 






1 


III 










ft 


i 










^ 


y^ 


« 


> 












^ 










* 


% 














' 
















V 








































/' 






























;^ 


«^ 




























































^ 




















^^ 


^ 


■ 


M 


!n 














^ 


















■i 


i^ 






^ 


k 


> 








/, 










k 












II 


"^ 








X 


■ 








1 










Ti 






















































ii 


^ 








X 


■ 








1 


L 








Ji 












■^ 


Ik 






A 


S 


> 


















P^ 














^^ 


■ 


■ 


^ 


/ 














a 


s 
































































yj! 










































/.<? 


















2P 
























■ 






































■^ 


In 




A 


^ 


> 












1 




%. 
















^ 


y 




'% 


'^ 














Ji 


s 


y 














i 


=^ 


1 




1 


m 










i 
























J 


k 


■H 


^ 


k 














Ii 






r 














'% 


f 




^ 


^ 


> 












III 
























III 


























































































































■ 












































^ 














^ 
























A!i 


n 


^ 


^ 












^ 


^ 




A 






^ 


^ 








~^ J^ 




^ 


^ 


> 










^ 


!^ 


< 


w§ 






"" 




^ 




^ 


^m 






i 


■ 


^ 


1 


HI 




H 


^ 


^H 






1 




( 








»^ 




^ 


m 












^ 




< 


« 


r 




^ 




> 








^1 


^ii 


^ 


'f 










• 


^ 






'^ 






% 






























V 












V 














it 










































.^? 














ii 












^s 


' 









































































































PLATE 


X. 














































/ 




7 / 7 


—/—^ y 




cf? 










-^ 


rr 


f-x 


-^r 


X 1 /"^ 






"" 














^ 












^ 






























t- 


■^^-^ 


■^^^ 


^'-^ 


-J — 










y 


r^ 


5i5 


iSi 


xiP, 


/ 










1 


1 


1 1 1 


1 1 1 


J> 






















































y 


■^ /^ 


















f^ 


^ 
^ ^^- 


^Tt 




















- ' 
















y 


^ y 


t 


^ 
















y 


y^ 
















\^ 




y 












^-^ 




— _ 






.— ^ 


— r~\ — V 




"X — r^ 


T 




— ^ 






-^ 


"=^^ 


3^^ 


333 


5^ 


1- 




- — 






























I 


• 
















/ 






\ 














/ 






\ 












/ 










\ 



































































PLATE 


XI 


































































^.'^'^T^ 


V 
































^'^ 




Pi 


-f!f= 


[/- 


7^1/ 


^ 










v-Vi 






Vj/ 




/ /^ 


/"v/ 




- 






-- 


^.^ 


1 






\ 


/ 








\ 


\ 




^ 


X-^ 






\ 


y 












^ 












z. 
















































'^' 


S 
















^ 






4tt' 








— ' 


1—7 


/ / 


/ 




\ 




/ 7 


















, 


















\ 








> 






x\^ 












\ 








' 






y^^ 

X 














t_ 1 










^ 




































. 




— _, — 










-7 / ■■ 


'^ 






\ 


7- 


y-y 


r- 


/ 


f:^ 


^6=f 








\ 








/ 






^' 


/ 










\ 








/ 








^ 










\ 








y 






J- 


^ 






















/^^ 




































f 


/ / 
















'—>^^ 










\ 


\ 


/ 

/ 














/ / 










\ 




' 






r— /- 




^ 




/ 


/ / 


7 




/ / 








\ 


/ 


' 




\ 






/ 










\ 


y 


V 




\ 






/ 












7 










<9 































PLATE XII. 




PLATE 


XIII 
































































































A 


ftk 














































m> 




























■ 








■■^z 


^=' 






il 


■ 


III 


■ 


II 


p 


ill 


m 










1 


■ 


III 


a 


1 


■ 


■ 








^ 


!> 














' i 


^ 




























^ 


^ 














^ 


f 






















0/ 










% 






A 


> 






w 












by 




... 


?;■ 




~^ 


w 










i 














f 












^ 


^ 






^ 


(S 


%? 










^ 














% 


\ 










^ 


^ 






/I 


^ 


7 




































^ 


P 


N 


^ 


^4 


/ 








































^ 


k 


/i 


f^ 
































fe 












^ 


■^ 


































^ 












































^ 




!l:' 


'"v 










































^ 




:' 




,-->! 








































^ 








V..-- 




k 




































^-, 


./ 










P 




































■v/ 




-5 


^ 




\.-' 


w 


k 
































/> 














•'\i 


^ 




























<C 








-:• 


--; 


!- 


--. 


.. 


~- 


few 


^ 
































^ 










»i 




















































































































































^ 


A 












































< 


m 


f 


f 










i 


( 


























t 


'\ ' ! 


{ 


U'l 






i 


s 
















^ 










^ 


m, 
















t^ 




rt 


k 


























^1 


\ 






, 












rS 


II 




t 


). 




















J 


^ 




^ 


^. 












1 


p 
























k 


M 


t4 


^ 






^ 


-"W^y^ 


\ 




m 


B 


















^ 




!>v 




1 


^ 


^ 


^ 


^ 




i 








y/ 


^ 














L. 












\j| 


^ 


^ 


^ 














^ 
















y 












^ 


^ 


**% 


^ 






























?' 












































(^ 




y4 












































^ 




\i 


?^ 






\ 




































f^ 






^ 




% 


%\ 
































S^ 








s 








% 


M 


\ 
































HI 




1^ 


J 




W- 




























^ 














I 


X 


f 


































































































J 






__ 




_ 



(2) 



INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES* 



Books by and about Froebel. 

The Education of Man. By Friedrich Froebel. Translated 
by W. N. Hailmann, Ph. D. $1.50. 
In all directions this book sounds the keynote of a new education. It lifts all educa* 
tional work from narrow, merely utilitarian standpoints, to an intensely and broadly 
Christian view of life; it measures every activity by its influence on character and full 
life efBciency. In all questions of system and method Froebel places the teacher on 
•olid ground, and indicates the way to loftiest achievements. 

Froebel's Laws for all Teachers. By James L. Hughes. $1.50. 

This book is a clear and comprehensive statement of Froebel's principles, adapted 
to the work of every one engaged in the education and the training of humanity in the 
kindergarten, the school, the university, or the home. It is the most intelligible expo- 
sition of the fundamental principles of the New Education as revealed by Froebel. 

Pedagogics of the Kindergarten. By Friedrich Froebel. 
Translated by Josephine Jarvis. $1.50. 
This volume contains a practical elucidation of the theories of Froebel, and will bo 
fnvaluable to earnest educators — particularly to parents, kindergartners, and primary 
school-teachers. Froebel explains very fully and carefully his motives for the entire 
plan of the work and play of the kindergarten, and its purpose and influence on life. 

Education by Development. By Friedrich Froebel. Trans- 
lated by Josephine Jarvis. $1.50. 
In this volume the educational principles underlybg the " gifts " are more thor- 
oughly discussed than in "The Pedagogics of the Kindergarten." The student of 
Froebel has great advantage, therefore, in reading " Education by Development," in- 
asmuch as Froebel cast new light on his thoughts in each exposition that he made. 

The Mottoes and Commentaries of Friedrich Froebel's 
Mother-Play. By H. R. Eliot and Susan E. Blow. $1.50. 

The Songs and Music of Friedrich Froebel's Mother-Play. 

Prepared and arranged by Susan E. Blow. $1.50. 
The increased interest in kindergarten work and the demand for a clearer exposition 
of Froebel's philosophy have given these excellent books the widest popularity. No 
one could be better equipped for their preparation than Miss Blow. In the first vol- 
ume the original pictures have been faithfully reproduced. 

Symbolic Education. A Commentary on Froebel's Mother-Play. 
By Susan E. Blow. $1.50. 

This book discusses in a practical way the foundations of the philosophy of Froebel 
as found in " The Mother's Songs and Games," and shows the significance of the 
kindergarten and its claims for being the comer-stone upon which all child education 
should rest. It is emphatically a book for mothers as well as for teachers. 

Froebel's Mother-Play Pictures. Three series. Plain and 
colored. See special list for prices and description. 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 



NEWS FOR KINDERGARTNERS. 

The Froebel Mother- Play Pictures, as reproduced 
in Miss Blow's book, " Mottoes and Commentaries," 
are now furnished printed in colors from lithographic 
plates. 

I. Play with the Limbs. 2. The Wind. 3. All Gone. 4. Tick- 
Tack. 5. Grass Mowing. 6. Beckoning the Chickens. 7. Beckoning 
the Pigeons. 8. The Fish in the Brook. 9. Pat-a-Cake. 10. The 
Bird's Nest. 11. The Flower Basket. 12. The Pigeon House. 
13. Naming the Fingers. 14. The Greeting. 15. The Family. 
16. The Children on the Tower. 17. The Child and the Moon. 
18. The Light-Bird. 19. The Shadow Rabbit. 20. The Little Win- 
dow. 21. The Carpenter. 22. The Bridge. 23. The Farm- Yard Gate. 
24. The Garden Gate. 25. The Little Gardener. 26. The Wheel- 
wright. 27. The Joiner. 28. The Knights and the Good Child. 
29. The Knights and the Bad Child. 30. The Toyman and the 
Maiden. 31. The Toyman and the Boy. 32. The Church. 

Size of pictures, 4x6 inches. Size of sheet, 5x7 inches. Price 
per dozen, 18 cents ; per hundred, $1.25. 

This series of the Froebel Mother-Play Pictures is designed for the use 
of the pupils in kindergarten classes. The low price and convenient size of 
these reprints make it practicable to place in the hands of each child a copy 
of the picture which is the subject of a lesson at any time, while the coloring 
makes them not only more attractive, but brings out the details of the pic- 
ture with much more distinctness. 

Also, the complete list of forty-six pictures reprinted from ** Mot- 
toes and Commentaries," uncolored. Per hundred, 50 cents. 



Other reproductions of Froebel's Mother-Play Pictures : The 
Bridge ; Beckoning the Pigeons ; Grass Mowing ; The Wheelwright. 
Artistically printed in colors from stone. 

Size of pictures, 10x15 inches. Size of sheet, 14x21 inches. 
Price per dozen, $2.00. Single picture, postpaid, 18 cents. 

The following are uncolored : The Bird's Nest ; The Wind ; The 
Knights and the Good Child ; The Pigeon House ; Pat-a-Cake ; The 
Fish in the Brook ; The Little Gardener ; The Children on the Tower ; 
The Greeting; The Family; The Light-Bird; The Child and the 
Moon. 

Size of pictures, 12 x 18 inches. Size of sheet, 17 x 23^ inches. 
Price per dozen, $1.25. Single picture, postpaid, 12 cents. 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 



INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES, 



Later Infancy of the Child. 

By Gabriel Compayr6. Translated by Mary E. 
Wilson. Vol. 53. Part II of Vol. 35. Price, $1.20 net ; 
postage 10 cents additional. 

This book completes the translation of Professor Compayre's well- 
known essay, "L' Evolution Intellectuale et Morale de L'Enfant." 
It brings together, in a systematic pedagogic form, what is known of 
the development of infant children so far as the facts bear on early 
education. Professor Compayre's treatise is one of the most sagacious 
and fruitful products of the modem attention to child study. Since 
the publication of the first volume (in 1896), investigation in this 
fascinating field has gone forward at a rapid pace, and an immense 
mass of new material is now available. This has been utilized and 
interpreted in its manifold applications. 

The interdependence of the two aspects of education — the study of 
the ideals of civilization and the study of the child (to discover what 
rudimentary tendencies are favorable or unfavorable to culture, and to 
ascertain the best methods of encouraging the one and of suppressing 
*he other) — this interdependence has been properly balanced. 

The chapters in this volume discuss judgment and reasoning, learn- 
ing to talk, voluntary activity — walking and play, the development of 
the moral sense, weak and strong points of character, morbid tenden- 
cies, etc., and the evolution of the sense of selfhood and personality. 
This part is even more valuable than that already published in Vol. 
XXXV, and teachers everywhere will welcome it as a highly suggestive 
contribution. 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 



THE INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES. 

Edited by WILLIAM T. HARRIS, LL.D., 
United States Commissioner of Edttcation, 



A Neil) Volume,— No, LV* 



Genetic Psychology for Teachers. 

By Charles H. Judd, Ph.D., Instructor in 
Psychology in Yale University. i2mo. Cloth, 
$1.20 net. 

This book deals with the facts and principles of 
mental development. It takes up the special phase 
of psychology which is of most importance to 
teachers, for it traces the changes which are pro- 
duced in mental life as a result of education in its 
various forms. It calls attention to many facts in the 
teacher's own mental life that illustrate and present 
to direct personal observation processes of develop- 
ment. This study of one's own mental development 
makes it possible to understand the nature of such 
development. Starting from this firm basis of self- 
study, the reader is carried forward to the less 
directly observable forms of development that appear 
in others. The essence of the argument is that 
" teacher-study " is the only true basis for child-study. 

The book applies the principles of mental devel- 
opment directly to the problems of teaching, reading, 
writing, and the use of number. One of its unique 
features is that it takes up specifically, not in a vague, 
general way, but exhaustively and clearly, the prac- 
tical problems that confront the individual teacher. 

a APPLETON AND COMPANY, 

NEW YORK. BOSTON. CHICAGO. LONDON. 



INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES. 

Psychological Foundations 
of Education. 

An Attempt to Show the Genesis of the Higher 
Faculties of the Mind. By W. T. Harris, A.M., 
LL.D., United States Commissioner of Education. 
Vol. 37. i2mo. Cloth, $1.50. 

In offering this book to the educational public the author feels it 
necessary to explain its point of view. Psychology is too frequently 
only an inventory of certain so-called " faculties of the mind," such as 
the five senses, imagination, conception, reasoning, etc. And teachers 
have been offered such an inventory under the name of " educational 
psychology." It has been assumed that education has to do with 
"cultivating the faculties." Perhaps the analogy of the body has 
been taken as valid for the soul, and, inasmuch as we can train 
this or that muscle, it is inferred that we can cultivate this or that 
faculty. The defect of this mode of view is that it leaves out of 
sight the genesis of the higher faculties from the lower ones. 
Muscles are not consecutive, the one growing out of another and 
taking its place, but they are co-ordinate and side by side in space, 
whereas in mind the higher faculties take the place of the lower 
faculties and in some sort absorb them. Conception, instead of 
existing side by side with perception, like the wheels of a clock, 
contains the latter in a more complete form of activity. Sense- 
perception, according to the definition, should apprehend individual 
things, and conception should take note of classes or species. But 
conception really transforms perception into a seeing of each object 
as a member of a class, so that the line between perception and con- 
ception has vanished, and we cannot find in consciousness a mere 
perception of an individual object, but only that kind of perception 
which sees the object in its process of production. This indicates 
the point of view of this book. It is an attempt to show the 
psychological foundations of the more important educational factors 
in civilization and its schools. Special stress is laid on the evolu- 
tion of the higher activities or faculties and on the method of it. 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK* 



INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES* 



Dickens as an Educator. 

By James L. Hughes, Inspector of Schools, Toronto. 
Vol. 49. i2mo. Cloth, $1.50. 



Adopted by the Indiana State Teachers' Reading Circle. 



All teachers have read Dickens's novels with pleasure. Probably 
few, however, have thought of him as a great educational reformer. 
But Inspector Hughes demonstrates that such is his just title. U. S. 
Commissioner William T. Harris says of " Dickens as an Educator " : 
" This book is sufficient to establish the claim for Dickens as an edu- 
cational reformer. He has done more than any one else to secure for 
the child considerate treatment of his tender age. Dickens stands 
apart and alone as one of the most potent influences of social reform 
in the nineteenth century, and therefore deserves to be read and studied 
by all who have to do with schools, and by all parents everywhere in 
our day and generation." Professor Hughes asserts that " Dickens 
was the most profound exponent of the kindergarten and the most 
comprehensive student of childhood that England has yet produced." 
The book brings into connected form, under proper headings, the 
educational principles of this most sympathetic friend of children. 

" Mr. James L. Hughes has just published a book that will rank as one 
of the finest appreciations of Dickens ever ytxiXXQU."— Colorado School 
yournaL 

" Mr. Hughes has brought together in an interesting and most effective 
manner the chief teachings of Dickens on educational subjects. His extracts 
make the reader feel again the reality of Dickens's descriptions and the 
power of the appeal that he made for a saner, kindlier, more inspiring peda- 
gogy, and thus became, through his immense vogue, one of the chief 
instrumentalities working for the new education." — Wisconsin Journal 0/ 
Education. 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. NEW YORK. 



THE APPLETON SCHOOL BOOKS 



The Culture Readers. 

In Six Books. Embodying the Natural Method 
in Reading. By Ellen E. Kenyon- Warner, Pd.D. 

NOW READY 

Book I. — Primer. Small 4to. Cloth, 124 pages, 
30 cents. Book 11. Small 4to. Cloth, 124 pages, 30 
cents. Edited by Jenny B. Merrill, Ph.D. 

AIMS 

1. To teach the Art of Reading in enjoyable lessons, obeying 
psychologic law, following the * ' line of least resistance," and securing the 
most rapid and substantial progress. 

2. To train the taste, cultivate the moral nature, and aid in the 
assimilation of all knowledge. 

The Culture Readers differ from other series in 
the following characteristics ; 

1. They draw their initial stock of "sight words" from literary 
sources, and base their text from the first upon thought values instead oi 
upon word studies. 

2. The forms and laws of English words are taught, and without 
the use of artificial text. 

3. The method by which children learn to recognize and spell 
words is evolutionary. It proceeds by a natural unfolding of the con- 
tent of the text. It is logical, employing both induction and deduction. 
The child does his own work, experimenting upon the material of his 
own experience, finding the law, and applying it in the exploration of a 
larger world. 

4. A deep ethical intent threads the course from beginning to end. 
The great structural facts of nature are gently impressed by giving each 
its place in a graded sequence and making it prominent in its turn. Out 
of these phenomena emerges law, and gradually the moral law. By the 
study of lessons drawn from nature and from literature, the student is 
taught to cherish the pure and the generous and to live toward the 
highest ideals. 

Write for further details and sample copies to 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 
NEW YORK. BOSTON. CHICAGO LONDON. 



THE APPLETON SCHOOL BOOKS* 



JUST PUBLISHED. 

Arithmetics. 

In Three Books. By J. W. A. Young, Ph.D., 
Assistant Professor of the Pedagogy of Mathematics 
in the University of Chicago, and Lambert Lewis 
Jackson, A.M., Head of Department of Mathematics, 
State Normal School, Brockport, New York. 

Now ready: Book L For third and fourth 
years. Book II. For fifth and sixth years. 

i2mo. Cloth, each, 35 cents. 

These books represent a new departure in the teaching of arithmetic. 

Perhaps nine-tenths of all the elementary arithmetics published in 
America during the last twenty years have been largely inspired by the 
Grube idea. But educators are now advancing such views as the follow- 
ing : "Avoid the interest-killing monotony of the Grube grind on the 
three hundred and odd combinations of half a dozen numbers which thus 
substitute sheer mechanical action for the spontaneous activity that 
simultaneously develops numerical ideas and the power to retain them." 
Young and Jackson's Arithmetics favor the Tanck-Knilling plan of 
counting or the natural method of learning number. 

The Young and Jackson books use a series of steps by grades which 
enlarge the number field gradually and admit of a systematic develop- 
ment of processes. 

The Young and Jackson Arithmetics make the logic of arithmetic 
the backbone of the subject ; treating definitions, principles, and processes 
inductively, but formally and systematically. 

In the treatment of problems these books are unique. A topical 
treatment lends itself readily to correlation, and the authors of these 
books have drawn upon the best of geography, drawing, manual training, 
and nature study. The introduction of this material in its quantitative 
aspect is the newest and strongest feature of modern arithmetic. 

The Young and Jackson Arithmetics contain a simple but formal 
treatment of concrete geometry graded to correspond to the pupil's needs 
from the third year to the eighth. 

These books provide a chapter on formal algebra in the eighth 
year's work, but the simple equation and literal quantities in the form of 
abbreviations are used from the fifth year. This gradual introduction of 
the algebraic notation leads easily to formal algebra. 

Have you seen these books ? If not, ask your friends. Better still, 
ask us. 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 
NEW YORK. BOSTON. CHICAGO. LONDON. 



